Study On The Impact Of VAT Rebate Policy On Total Factor Productivity Of Enterprises

High-quality development is the primary task for China to comprehensively build a socialist modernized country.The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China explicitly proposed that in the new stage of development,we must accelerate the construction of a modern economic system,focus on improving total factor productivity,and firmly follow the path of high-quality development.This means that Chinese enterprises need to change their previous extensive development model,enhance their core competitiveness on the basis of a huge scale,achieve improvement in "quality",realize a leap to the upstream of the industrial chain,and break the pattern of "big but not strong".In recent years,in order to promote high-quality economic development and encourage corporate innovation,China has implemented various tax reduction and fee reduction policies,among which the implementation of VAT rebate policy is the most significant.According to the data from the 2022 Government Work Report,the total amount of tax reduction and fee reduction in China in 2022 was about RMB 2.5 trillion,of which the amount of VAT rebate for retained input tax alone reached RMB 1.5 trillion.The primary purpose of this round of tax reduction and fee reduction is to increase the available cash flow of enterprises,help them alleviate operating pressure,boost their confidence in business operation,and improve their operating efficiency.Currently,there have been studies on the reasons for the formation,scale distribution,and impact of VAT rebate policy on corporate funds,value,and R&D investment in China.However,few scholars have conducted research linking VAT rebate policy with the measurement of comprehensive production efficiency of enterprises,which reflects the progress of enterprise technological innovation.Based on this,this thesis decides to take the VAT rebate policy piloted in 2018 as the entry point,and conducts empirical analysis based on the data of A-share listed companies from 2015 to 2021,using the robustness test methods of replacing the explained variables,constructing a hypothetical policy occurrence time,and shortening the sample study period to demonstrate the robustness of the empirical results.From the perspectives of enterprise R&D investment and financing constraints,the thesis explores the impact mechanism and proves that VAT rebate policy has an important impact on enterprise total factor productivity through two channels:promoting enterprise R&D investment and easing enterprise financing constraints.Finally,the thesis conducts heterogeneous analysis from four aspects:property rights,regional distribution,enterprise scale,and enterprise leverage ratio,to study the differences in the impact of VAT rebate policy on different types of sample companies.The research conclusions of this thesis are as follows:Firstly,the implementation of VAT rebate policy has significantly improved the total factor productivity of pilot enterprises,and the robustness and reliability of the benchmark regression results have been demonstrated through three robustness test methods of replacing the explained variables,constructing a hypothetical policy occurrence time,and shortening the sample period.Secondly,through mechanism analysis,it is proved that the VAT rebate policy has an important impact on enterprise total factor productivity through two channels:promoting enterprise R&D investment and easing enterprise financing constraints.Thirdly,the results of heterogeneous analysis show that among enterprises with different property rights,state-owned enterprises are more affected by the impact of VAT rebate policy.Among enterprises in different regions,only the total factor productivity of enterprises in the eastern region is significantly affected by the policy.In terms of enterprise scale,the policy has a significant positive impact on the total factor productivity of large-scale enterprises,but has no significant impact on smallscale enterprises.Finally,for enterprises with different leverage ratios,the VAT rebate policy has significantly improved the total factor productivity of high-leverage enterprises,while the impact on low-leverage enterprises is not significant.Based on the empirical analysis results in this thesis,the following policy recommendations are proposed:1.Continue to promote the reform of the value-added tax deferred tax policy and expand the scope of tax rebates.Include the incremental deferred tax payments of the entire manufacturing industry in the scope of tax rebates,and moderately relax the restrictions on taxpayers to qualify for tax rebates.Include taxpayers with a tax level of M in the scope of tax s,fully tapping their positive role in stimulating enterprise R&D innovation and promoting total factor productivity.2.Continue to pay attention to the effectiveness of VAT rebate policy and further optimize the policy mechanism.Improve the combination tax rebate policy scheme and form a joint force for tax reduction and fee reduction.Support other incentive policies that are conducive to R&D to help China form an innovation-driven economic growth model.3.Improve the modern financial and tax system and build a standardized and efficient modern tax system.Ensure that the tax rebate benefits are accurately and quickly received by taxpayers.Strengthen tax collection and management construction,crack down on tax fraud such as false invoicing,and govern illegal behaviors such as cheating on tax rebates through the establishment of a "credit list" and other means to optimize the tax and business environment.