税收分成、财政激励与市场整合——来自“增值税分成”改革的证据

Tax Sharing,Fiscal Incentives,and Market Integration:Evidence from the“Five⁃to⁃Five”Sharing Reform of VAT

财税政策是宏观经济运行的制度保障,对建设全国大市场、推进中国式现代化具有重要意义。利用价格法测算2009—2020年地级市层面的市场整合程度,并以2016年增值税分成改革为外生冲击构建强度双重差分模型检验财政激励对市场整合的影响。研究发现:税收分成比例提升产生的财政激励有利于市场整合,这种正向影响在市场化指数高、市场整合程度大以及规模较大的城市中更加显著;机制分析表明,税收分成比例的提升能够激励地方政府进行税收竞争与财政支出竞争,其中税收竞争对市场整合会产生负向影响,而财政支出竞争则会产生正向效应;进一步分析表明,税收分成比例提升有助于在全国统一大市场建设过程中实现共同富裕。当前应改革政绩考核体系,规范地方政府税收竞争行为;加快政府职能转变,建立法治政府与服务政府;完善税收分成制度,优化财政激励机制等。

Fiscal and tax policies are the institutional guarantee for macroeconomic operation,playing a significant role in building a united national market and promoting Chinese path to modernization.Adopting the price method assessing market integration at the prefecture⁃level cities from 2009 to 2020,this paper builds a difference⁃in⁃differences model with an intensity index based on 2016 value⁃added tax reform being an exogenous shock,to investigate the effect of fiscal incentives on market integration.The results indicate that the fiscal incentives generated by the increase in tax sharing ratio are conducive to market integration,which is more pronounced in cities with high marketization index,high⁃level market integration,and larger population.The mechanism analysis shows that increasing the proportion of tax sharing encourages local governments to engage in tax competition and fiscal expenditure competition.In addition,tax competition has a negative impact on market integration,while fiscal expenditure competition has a positive effect.Further analysis indicates that an increase in the proportion of tax sharing will contribute to achieving common prosperity in the process of building a unified national market.Therefore,the governments should reform the performance evaluation system and standardize local governmental behaviors in tax competition,accelerate the transformation of government functions,establish a rule of law approach to government governance and a service government,and introduce such policy recommendations as improving the tax sharing system and optimizing fiscal incentive mechanisms.