减税激励与企业环境、社会和治理表现——基于增值税留抵退税的准自然实验

Tax Reduction Incentives and Corporate Performance in ESG: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on China’s VAT Credit Refund

增值税留抵退税是重构税收中性、推进税收治理现代化的重要举措,对于提升企业环境、社会和治理(ESG)表现具有重要意义。基于财税[2018]70号文,利用2011—2021年我国A股上市公司数据,实证研究了增值税留抵退税的企业ESG溢出效应及其作用机制。研究发现:增值税留抵退税政策的实施显著提升了试点企业的ESG表现,有利于企业绿色可持续发展。机制分析表明:留抵退税政策通过缓解试点企业融资约束和激发企业绿色动能转换,提升了企业ESG表现。这表明增值税留抵退税政策不仅具有减负纾困效应,而且具有推动企业绿色转型发展的溢出效应。异质性分析还发现,增值税留抵退税的绿色激励效应更多地体现在非国有企业和期末留抵税额负担较重的企业中。因此,建议利用多策组合汇聚合力,不断增强企业绿色可持续发展能力;利用多税共治提高政策协同度,充分释放组合式减税降费效力;持续深化增值税改革,进一步提高政策匹配性与适应性。

The VAT credit refund is a important measure for the reconstruction of tax neutrality and the promotion of the tax governancemodernization,and it is of great significance for the improvement of the enterprises’performance in environment,society and governance(ESG).Based on the document of No.70 Caishui(2018)and making use of the data of A-share listed companies in China from 2011 to 2021,this paper conducts an empirical study of the spillover effects of corporate ESG of VAT credit refunds and its action mechanism.The findings show that the implementation of the VAT refunds policy has significantly improved the ESG performance of the pilot enterprises,which is conductive to the green and sustainable development of enterprises.The mechanism analysis reveals that the refund policy has improved the ESG performance of enterprises by easing the financing constraints of the pilot enterprises and stimulating their green energy conversion.This suggests that the VAT credit refund policy can not only provide relief to enterprises but also has a spillover effect in promoting their green transformation and development.The heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the green incentive effect of VAT credit refunds is more prominent in the non-state-owned enterprises and the enterprises with a higher burden of tax retention at the end of the period.Therefore,it is recommended to utilize multi-policy combinations to gather the joint forces and continuously enhance the ability of enterprises to develop in a green and sustainable manner,utilize the multi-tax governance to improve policy synergy degree and fully unleash the effectiveness of combined tax cuts and fee reductions,and continue to deepen the VAT reform,so as to further improve the matching and adaptability of the policy.