Study On Water Saving Effect Of Water Resources Tax Reform Based On Synthetic Control Method

The situation of water resources in China is very serious,with the problems of insufficient total amount and uneven distribution.Especially Shanxi Province in North China,the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources is very prominent.Before the reform of water resources tax,local government departments regulated the development and utilization of water resources by collecting water resources fees.However,due to the problems of disordered management and low collection standards under the water resource fee system,the restraint effect on the extensive water use behavior is not satisfactory.In order to improve the efficiency of water resources management,the pilot reform of water resources tax was carried out in 2016.On the whole,Shanxi Province,as one of the pilot projects of water resources tax reform and expansion,has achieved satisfactory results,but there are still some problems in policy provisions and collection management,which need to be improved.This paper uses the method of combining normative analysis and empirical analysis to study whether the water resources tax reform in Shanxi Province has improved the water use efficiency and water-saving effect,in order to optimize China’s water resources tax system from point to area.The first part of this paper mainly introduces the reform background of water resources tax and combs the literature of previous research,which lays a foundation for the selection of research ideas and methods.The second part compares and analyzes the concepts and similarities and differences of water resource tax and water resource fee,and expounds the theoretical basis of levying water resource tax from four aspects:resource scarcity theory,externality theory,public product theory and sustainable development theory.In addition,the mechanism of water resources tax on improving water use efficiency is also analyzed.The third part uses the method of quantitative analysis to explore the shortage of China’s total water resources and the serious imbalance of distribution.Further,it discusses the reform process and achievements of water resources tax,and highlights the advantages of water resources tax system compared with water resources fee system.The fourth part introduces the pilot situation of Shanxi Province from the causes,implementation plans and existing problems of tax reform.In the fifth part,based on the quasi natural experiment of changing water resources fee to tax,using the provincial panel data of 22 provinces from 2011 to 2020,the synthetic control method is used to study whether the change of water resources fee to tax improves the water efficiency and has the effect of water saving in Shanxi Province.The sixth part summarizes the research conclusions of this paper and puts forward policy suggestions to optimize China’s water resources tax system.The results show that the water resources tax reform in Shanxi Province has achieved good water-saving effect,which is reflected in improving the water use efficiency of the province.The results of further analysis show that the water resources tax reform has significantly reduced the agricultural water consumption and industrial added value water consumption in Shanxi Province,but it has not achieved the expected water-saving effect in domestic water.Through the study of the water resources tax system,it is found that the current water resources tax system has some problems,such as large tax burden differences among industries of the same water intake type,unclear tax purpose and so on.Based on the above research conclusions,this paper puts forward policy suggestions on strengthening the regulation of domestic water,rational use of tax,optimizing tax design and improving the calculation and collection mode of water resources tax.