政府减税、企业税负与企业活力研究——来自增值税转型改革的证据

Tax Cut, Firms' Performance and Government Taxation Revenue——Evidence from Value-Added Tax Reform in the Northeast China

借助2004年东北地区增值税转型政策,我们发现2004年受政策影响的企业相对于不受影响的企业应交增值税减少了15.0%。然而,增值税减少的情况并未持续到2005—2007年,减税在长期并未成为政府的负担。同时,增值税转型带来的减税使企业活力得到显著提升。根据企业人均产值、人均销售收入以及人均利润对税率的反应弹性,我们估算得到拉弗曲线中的最优税率应介于18.3%—23.0%。中国企业税负高于此水平,减税在长期不但不会增加政府负担,而且还能实现企业活力的提高。

Chinese government is implementing a series of tax-cut policies to enterprises.In this paper,we investigate the impacts of tax cuts on enterprises’performance and on government tax revenue.Utilizing the value-added tax reform in the northeast China in 2004,we find that although reforms reduce the value-added tax paid in the short term,a significantly reduced value-added tax revenue is not observed in the long-term.Moreover,reforms significantly promote firms’performances,reflected by an increase in output per capita,sales per capita and profits per capita,respectively.In the end,the optimal tax rate for Chinese enterprises is calculated.