财政压力、企业税费负担与全要素生产率

Fiscal Pressure,Tax and Fee Burden,and Total Factor Productivity

提高全要素生产率是供给侧结构性改革的重点。本文借助农村税费改革度量财政压力的变化,采用双重差分方法考察了伴随减税降费而形成的地方政府财政压力对制造业企业全要素生产率(TFP)的影响。研究结果表明,财政压力的增加不利于企业TFP的上升。企业税费负担上升及其造成的融资约束加剧是财政压力降低企业TFP的影响机制。异质性分析表明,财政压力对TFP的影响主要体现在民营企业、非产能过剩企业以及跨地区流动性更低的企业中。此外,在高农业产值地区和低财政自给率地区,企业所受影响会更大。而提高市场化水平、政府治理水平和法治化水平可以减弱这一负面影响。本文政策含义是推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化,有助于巩固和拓展减税降费政策成效;短期内中央应当采取必要措施缓解地方政府财政压力,从而实质性降低企业成本。

How to improve total factor productivity is essential to supply-side structural reform.Using difference-in-difference approach based on the quasi-experiment of nation-wide abolition of agriculture tax,this paper studies the impacts of local government fiscal pressure on total factor productivity of manufacturing firms.Results show that fiscal pressure has a negative effect on firm’s total factor productivity.The main mechanism behind is that fiscal pressure leads to heavier tax and fee burden and tighter financial constraints on firms,leading to the decrease in total factor productivity.The effects of fiscal pressure on total factor productivity are more pronounced for non-SOEs,non-overcapacity firms and firms with low trans-regional mobility.In addition,firms are more affected in areas with higher agricultural output value or lower financial self-sufficiency rate.The improvement of the level of marketization,governance and rule of law can mitigate these negative effects.This paper has fruitful policy implications.In the long run,it is necessary to advance the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance.In the short run,when promoting the tax reduction policy,the government should take necessary measures to relieve local governments’fiscal pressure,so as to substantively reduce firm’s cost and improve total factor productivity.