| Value-added tax is the biggest tax of our country,and also the biggest tax paid by businesses.Deepening VAT reform is an important measure to deepen supply-side structural reform and reduce costs in the "three elimination,one reduction and one subsidy" initiative.In order to reduce the cost of enterprises,China has issued a series of measures to reduce taxes and fees in recent years,among which the value-added tax is the most intensive and large-scale tax reduction.China has lowered the VAT rate for three consecutive years in 2017,2018 and 2019,greatly reducing the VAT burden on enterprises.However,due to the characteristics of VAT indirect tax,enterprises can transfer the tax burden to consumers,so it is inevitable for consumers to bear a certain value-added tax burden.While studying whether the VAT reform can reduce the burden on enterprises,we should also consider whether it can reduce the burden of VAT on residents and whether it can regulate the distribution of residents’ income.Based on this purpose,the article uses the input-output model to analyze the changes of product prices before and after the adjustment of VAT rate,calculate the effective tax rate,the VAT burden contained in residents’ income and expenditure,compare the tax burden changes between residents with different income groups and between urban and rural residents,and analyze the distribution effect of residents’ income after the adjustment of tax rate with the concentration curve.The research in the article shows that the VAT rate reform has reduced the tax burden of residents,and the effect of tax reduction has been increasing year by year in the past three years.On the whole,VAT is regressive,but the reform has slowed down this nature.From the perspective of lifetime income,the tax burden of urban residents is higher than that of rural residents,which means that VAT is not regressive in the long run.On the whole,lowering tax rates reduces the income gap between urban and rural residents and between residents of different income groups,and optimizes the income distribution of residents.Based on the empirical results,the article makes the following suggestions: First,further simplify VAT rates;Second,further reduce the VAT burden on relevant industries that account for the highest proportion of consumer spending.Third,improve the definition of necessities of life;The fourth is to respond to policy objectives and reduce tax rates for non-fossil energy industries. |
