The Unanticipated Environmental Effects of Tax Cuts:Evidence from China's VAT Rate Cut Policy
In the context of large-scale tax cut,how to strengthen ecological environment construction while preventing financial risks is the key to improving the local governance system and promoting high-quality economic growth in the new era.Based on the panel data at the prefecture-level from 2015 to 2020,this paper constructs a unified theoretical framework from the perspective of local environmental protection revenue and expenditure behavior,and deeply analyzes the impact of the implementation of the VAT rate cut policy on local environmental governance.The implementation of the VAT rate cut policy effectively reduces the concentration of fine particulate matter,sulfur dioxide,and carbon monoxide,bringing unexpected environmental effects.The mechanism analysis shows that the implementation of the VAT rate cut policy leads local governments to choose to obtain non-tax revenue by strengthening ecological and environmental law enforcement to alleviate short-term fiscal pressure.Meanwhile,this method has the effect of standardizing local ecological and environmental law enforcement,which is conducive to reducing environmental pollution.Further analysis shows that local governments with weak economic growth target constraints and strong environmental protection target constraints are more likely to achieve a"win-win"outcome of alleviating fiscal pressure and reducing environmental pollution by strengthening ecological and environmental law enforcement in the face of the impact of tax cut policy.The above conclusions not only provide a new explanation for the improvement of China's environmental quality in the new era,but also provide implications for how China can coordinate tax reduction policies and environmental protection policies in the future.
Value Added TaxTax Cut PolicyEnvironmental Expenditure and RevenueEcological and Environmental Law EnforcementEnvironment Quality