如何解释行业内企业的实际税率差异——基于税法法定与地方自由裁量视角的验证

How to Account for Different ETRs of Enterprises in the Same Industry? A Verification Based on the Perspective of Tax Laws and Local Discretion

我国同行业企业间实际税率普遍存在差异,哪些因素导致了差异的产生?厘清其背后的制度成因对于推进我国财税体制改革尤为重要。文章基于我国税收征管流程,构建了一个涉及征管全环节的理论框架,指出企业的实际税率差异主要来源于税法法定与地方自由裁量两类因素,并进一步对我国A股制造业上市公司的实际税率差异来源进行分析,研究发现:(1)税法法定因素与地方自由裁量因素是产生实际税率差异的主要原因,且前者的贡献度远高于后者;(2)从时序维度看,税法法定因素对于实际税率差异的贡献度一直维持在较高水平小幅波动,而地方自由裁量因素的贡献度则呈现出显著的下降趋势;(3)对不同地区而言,两类因素对实际税率差异的贡献度存在显著的异质性,其中税法法定因素的贡献度在东部和西部地区最高,而地方自由裁量因素的贡献度在东北地区最高。基于上述分解结果,文章最终构建了税收法治化程度指标(税法法定因素贡献度/地方自由裁量因素贡献度),其动态趋势反映出2007年至2019年我国税收法治化建设取得了显著成效。文章的结论与发现对于我国进一步贯彻落实税收法定原则、规范企业税收征管工作具有启示意义。

Effective tax rate(ETR) measures the tax payment burden,which is a comprehensive reflection of a series of behaviors of enterprises and government departments in the whole process of tax administration. According to tax laws,the difference of business essence will lead to differentiated tax treatments,resulting in the difference of ETRs based on tax laws. At the same time,due to the fact that tax elements stipulated in the law are not clear and specific,it creates conditions for local government departments to derive discretion. Therefore,local governments are able to influence the ETR of enterprises within the scope of laws according to their own interests,which leads to the difference of ETRs based on local discretion. So,how to understand the two source factors of ETR differences? Do they contain the reasonable optimization path of China’s tax system?In general,there are few comprehensive and systematic studies on the causes of different ETRs of enterprises. Therefore,continuing the ideas of the existing literature,this paper starts from the ETR of enterprises in the same industry,taking the manufacturing industry as an example. Firstly,it verifies the existence of different ETRs of enterprises in the same industry. Secondly,it constructs a theoretical framework based on tax administration,dividing the source factors of tax differences into two categories:One is from tax laws,and the other is from local discretion in tax administration. Finally,it uses the Shapley value decomposition method to analyze the static contribution level and dynamic trend of the two factors,and discusses the heterogeneity between different regions. The results show that:(1) Tax law factors and local discretion factors are the main sources of different ETRs,and the former’s contribution is obviously higher than the latter.(2) On the one hand,the factor contribution from tax laws to different ETRs has been maintained at a high level;on the other hand,the factor contribution from local discretion shows a significant downward trend. It has proved the significant regional heterogeneity in the contribution of the two factors to different ETRs.(3) Based on the above results,this paper finally constructs the Tax Legalization degree index,and its dynamic trend shows that the construction of Tax Legalization in China has achieved remarkable results from 2007 to 2019. The marginal contribution of this paper lies in that:Firstly,it systematically explores the causes of different ETRs of enterprises in the same industry,and improves the theory of the difference in ETRs. Secondly,it uses the Shapley value decomposition method to quantitatively verify the relative contribution and trend of the two factors,and depicts the real environment of tax collection and management in China from a new perspective.