How Fee-to-Tax Reform of Environmental Protection Affect Credit Financing:An Interpretation from Enterprises'Green Response
Drawing on the backdrop of China's transition from environmental pollution fees to environmental protection taxes,this paper investigates the financial pathways through which environmental regulations operate from the perspective of bank-business interactions using data from Chinese A-share listed industrial corporations from 2015 to 2020.The study demonstrates that China's shift from environmental fees to taxes(CEFT)potentially undermines industrial corporations'capacity to repay loans by increasing environmental costs.As a result,banks heighten their credit auditing practices and grant fewer loans,impeding industrial corporations from raising more funds.The mechanism analysis reveals that although CEFT has credit financing shocks,industrial corporations can partially hedge the credit financing shocks by verbal green image creation and environmentally friendly practices.Given the discrepancy between the green image of industrial corporations and their actual green conduct,banks adjust the term structure of credit fund disbursements to minimise the credit misallocation caused by"greenwashing".Further analysis indicates that in the CEFT process influencing credit financing,banks implement credit filtering based on external information and this practice has neither anticipated nor lagging effects.The effectiveness of CEFT also remains robust even after considering the potential reduction in credit financing by industrial corporations due to government subsidies or financial speculation activities,and eliminating the potential interference from other policies during the sample period.This paper provides important references on how to coordinate environmental regulations with financial policies and achieve agreed policy effects.
environmental protection taxenvironmental information disclosureenvironmental investmentcredit discrimination
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
