Research On Population Structure Difference,Tax Progressivity And Household Consumption Inequality

With the growth of income,China’s consumption inequality has become increasingly prominent.How to reduce consumption inequality and improve residents’ well-being has become an important issue.As a policy means of macro-control,taxation not only has a regulating effect on income,but also has a regulating effect on residents’ consumption.This paper attempts to analyze the effect of progressive tax burden on consumption inequality from the perspective of demographic difference.To this end,the specific research content of this paper is as follows:(1)To review the literature related to demographic structure difference,tax progressivity and consumer inequality.(2)Explain the behavioral economics theory that affects residents’ consumption decisions,and analyze the relationship between population structure difference,tax progressivity and residents’ consumption inequality by combining the theory of tax economics and consumption theory.(3)Using the data of China Input-Output Table and China Tax Yearbook,the input-output price model is used to measure the effective tax rate of each sector of the market,and the actual tax burden borne by consumer expenditure is calculated by combining the household expenditure data in the CFPS database,and the progressive measurement is carried out.(4)Use CFPS database to measure the characteristic facts of consumer inequality.(5)Based on the actual tax burden data of household consumption expenditure,the progressive tax progressivity measurement index was constructed.The progressive regression method and quantile regression method were used to analyze the impact of tax progressivity on household consumption inequality,and the heterogeneity analysis was carried out based on the demographic structure difference.The main research conclusions of this paper are as follows:(1)The calculation results show that the indirect tax burden rate of Chinese residents presents a regressive distribution,and MT index of VAT,consumption tax and overall indirect tax is less than 0.The tax burden rate of residents is different between urban and rural areas,which shows that the indirect tax burden rate of rural residents is higher than that of urban residents.(2)The Gini coefficient of consumption in China showed fluctuating changes during 2010-2018,but in general,the Gini coefficient of consumption in 2012-2018 was higher than that in 2010,indicating that the degree of consumption inequality in China is increasing.(3)Through gradual regression and quantile regression,it is found that progressive tax burden will reduce the consumption inequality index of residents.It is found that the progressivity of taxation still has a significant negative impact on the inequality of household consumption excluding medical and education expenditures.(4)The results of heterogeneity analysis show that the effect of progressive tax burden on consumption inequality gradually increases with the increase of residents’ income;Residents without education and training are more likely to bear the progressive tax burden to reduce the level of consumption inequality;Compared with the urban sample,the effect of tax progressivity on consumption inequality is greater in the rural sample.The effect of tax progressivity on consumption inequality decreases in the order of west,central and east.From the micro level,this paper explores the impact of tax progressivity on residents’ consumption inequality under the background of population structure differences.Currently,China’s indirect tax is relatively regressive,which has a restraining effect on residents’ consumption.Under the policy environment of eliminating consumption inequality,this research has important practical significance for expanding demand and tapping consumption potential.