Tax Incentives and Energy Efficiency:Evidence from the Value-Added Tax Reform in China
How to achieve the policy goals of"carbon peaking and carbon neutrality"while maintaining"stable growth"?Improving energy efficiency is key to addressing this issue.This pa-per constructs a theoretical model to analyze the impact of tax incentives on corporate energy effi-ciency and empirically tests it using the exogenous shock of the value-added tax(VAT)reform from 2004 to 2009.The test is based on matched data from the China Industrial Enterprise Data-base and the China Industrial Enterprise Pollution Emission Database.This study finds that the VAT reform significantly improved corporate energy efficiency.The main mechanism is that,on the one hand,the VAT reform promoted corporate fixed asset investment(especially in environ-mental protection equipment)and innovation activities;on the other hand,it improved energy efficiency through economies of scale.The findings of this paper contribute to a better utilization of fiscal and tax policies in balancing"low carbon"and"growth".
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