Professor Chu Deyin, collaborating with Dr. Li Yuan and Professor Zhang Tongbin from Dongbei University of Finance & Economics, jointly published an article titled Research on the Causes of Tax Burden Differences in the Value Added Tax Industry from the Perspective of Industrial Linkage in Economic Research Journal,No.7, 2023.

Manufacturing is an important foundation for national development, which plays a crucial role in promoting economic growth. Resolving unequal tax burden caused by the difference in value-added tax burden among manufacturing industries is of great practical significance for promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry and ensuring stable economic growth.

This paper explains the differences and causes of the actual value-added tax burden in the manufacturing industry from the perspective of industrial interconnection, and draws the following research conclusions. Firstly, the degree of industry correlation has a significant negative impact on the actual value-added tax burden in the manufacturing industry, that is to say, the closer the intermediate investment correlation between a certain industry and other industries, the lower the actual value-added tax burden it bears. Secondly, the characteristics of production networks have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between manufacturing industry correlation and actual value-added tax burden. Thirdly, downstream industries and enterprises of the industrial chain lack supervision over value-added tax invoices from the final demand side, which motivates such industries and enterprises to alleviate tax pressure through tax avoidance. Fourthly, in the process of influencing the actual value-added tax burden through enterprise tax shifting, the demand side of intermediate goods is prone to shift the tax backwards to goods suppliers, thereby effectively alleviating the value-added tax burden. Fifth, the substitution elasticity of intermediate inputs is an important factor affecting the types of intermediate inputs and their tax burden levels in manufacturing enterprises. Industries with higher correlation require greater substitution elasticity of intermediate inputs, allowing them to adjust the types of intermediate inputs to reduce the actual tax burden level.

This paper is conducive to exploring the causes of the differences in actual value-added tax burden within China’s manufacturing industry from the perspective of input-output correlation between industries. It comprehensively analyzes the heterogeneous impact of the position characteristics of various manufacturing industries in the production network on the actual value-added tax burden, and fully tests the intermediate mechanism of the impact of industry correlation on the actual value-added tax burden. It further elaborates on the causes of the differences in actual value-added tax burden among manufacturing enterprises in China. The research results provide new ideas for solving the problem of distorted value-added tax burden in manufacturing enterprises, and also provide policy implications for accelerating the improvement of the modern value-added tax system.

This is the third high-level academic paper published by our school in Economic Research Journal in the past five years, fully reflecting the ever-improving scientific research strength and academic level of our college.