First, the connotation of fairness and efficiency under the "green" tax system
The theory of sustainable development includes two basic points: one is to meet the needs of contemporary people through development; Second, we should not sacrifice the interests of future generations, but consider their development ability. Its core lies in fairness and efficiency. Equity includes intra-generational equity and intergenerational equity, and emphasizes leaving development space and resources to future generations. Efficiency emphasizes the rational utilization of resources and the improvement of ecological efficiency. Modern taxation principles emphasize fairness and efficiency of taxation, and the theory of sustainable development greatly enriches the connotation of fairness and efficiency of taxation.
Environmental pollution is the core of sustainable development and a negative externality problem. According to Pigou's external effect theory and natural capital theory, up to the current sustainable development theory, we can directly and effectively adjust externalities. Specifically, by designing tax types and applying tax policies and measures of "green" tax system, it will help to achieve the goal of tax fairness and efficiency.
(A) the realization of the goal of tax equity under the "green" tax system
1. is conducive to fair competition among enterprises. By imposing environmental protection tax on enterprises that pollute and destroy the environment, these enterprises are forced to internalize their external costs and rationalize their profit levels. At the same time, the collected income will be used to control pollution and protect the environment, which will correspondingly reduce the tax burden of enterprises that meet the requirements of ecological environment and be conducive to fair competition among various enterprises.
2. It will help to adjust the income gap and achieve * * * prosperity. Generally speaking, the rich consume more resources and emit more pollution, while the poor consume less resources and emit less pollution. Because of the scarcity of resources, the rich occupy resources and emit more pollution, so they have to bear more taxes accordingly. Therefore, the transfer of tax burden through "green" tax and fiscal transfer payment will help to adjust the personal income gap and the imbalance of regional economic development, help to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, promote coordinated development among regions, and achieve * * * common prosperity.
3. It is conducive to the realization of intergenerational equity in taxation. The behavior of contemporary people to promote the current economic development may cause serious environmental pollution and negative impact on future generations, thus causing external costs to future generations. The government can adjust the externalities that contemporary people may pass on to future generations through economic means such as taxation, which is helpful to realize intergenerational equity in resource utilization.
4. Conducive to international equity. With the globalization of the world economy, environmental pollution in one country may spread to other countries in various forms. Developed countries transfer products and technologies whose production and use are prohibited or strictly restricted to developing countries. This export of products and technologies at the expense of other countries' environmental interests poses a serious threat to the sustainable development of developing countries. After the implementation of the "green" tax system, the import cost of products and technologies that are harmful to the environment will increase, making them unprofitable and achieving the purpose of environmental protection and international fairness.
(b) To achieve the goal of tax efficiency under the "green" tax system
1. is conducive to social production to achieve the best advantages and form the optimal resource allocation. According to the amount of pollution, it is helpful to correct the defects of market mechanism and realize the optimal output of society to levy taxes equal to external costs on polluters. At the same time, through the production substitution effect of tax, the efficiency of resource allocation is higher and social welfare is maximized. When environmental protection tax is levied, enterprises may pass on part of the tax burden to consumers. However, due to the substitution effect, consumers may turn to consume pollution-free "green" products to replace products that both pollute and increase consumption expenditure. The reduction of consumption will lead to the reduction of production, which is conducive to the adjustment and optimization of industrial structure.
2. It is conducive to promoting enterprises to improve production technology and reduce environmental pollution. The collection of environmental protection tax forces enterprises to bear the external costs caused by environmental pollution, which reduces the profits of enterprises under the condition of constant prices. This is conducive to promoting enterprises to adopt advanced technology, promoting cleaner production, and promoting the development of industrial structure and resource allocation in a direction conducive to optimizing the environment.
3. It is conducive to the realization of intergenerational resource allocation efficiency. By levying taxes (heavy taxes) on material products that use more material resources and cause serious environmental pollution, and not levying taxes (light taxes) on service products that use less material resources and cause less environmental pollution, consumers may reduce the purchase of taxable products and consume products without taxes (light taxes) due to substitution effect, thus achieving the purpose of guiding consumption, helping to cultivate people to establish a "green" consumption concept and implement "green" consumption. It not only improves the quality of life of contemporary people, but also provides objective conditions for cultivating the development ability of future generations. At the same time, tax can raise the necessary funds for resource protection and environmental governance in a timely, stable and sufficient manner, and through the principle of earmarking, it is conducive to the sustainable utilization of environmental resources and the sustainable development of human society itself.
4. It is conducive to saving costs and conforms to the principle of tax administrative efficiency. "Green" tax policy widely adopts the advantages of market mechanism, which can restrain and encourage market economic behavior. Compared with charging, it is mandatory and normative, so it is more authoritative and transparent, which can reduce the cost of management, supervision and law enforcement, thus saving the cost of collection. It is an effective management tool.
At present, the tax clauses with environmental protection nature in China are independent and disconnected from each other, so it is impossible to systematically regulate and control environmental problems. Environmental tax measures are only scattered in various related taxes, mainly in the form of tax incentives to encourage the reuse of waste. In terms of tax coverage, collection methods and tax efficiency, it is not satisfactory. The tax rate is low in grade and weak in flexibility, which fails to better reflect the principles of tax fairness and efficiency, and does not really build a perfect "green" tax system.
Second, establish a "green" tax system that gives consideration to fairness and efficiency.
(A) "Green" tax design should follow the principle of fairness.
The construction of "green" tax system must be fair. Therefore, tax fairness should be reflected and realized in the tax reform according to the following principles.
1. The polluter pays principle. The polluter pays principle means that the polluter should bear the cost of controlling environmental pollution and compensating the victims' losses, and pay the corresponding environmental protection tax according to the amount of pollution discharged.
2. The principle of complete tax payment. Environmental resources are scarce and different, and they are the common wealth of mankind. Therefore, the development and utilization of environmental resources must be accompanied by the protection, renewal and restoration of environmental resources, that is, the principle of "whoever develops will protect, whoever destroys will restore and whoever uses will pay taxes" will be implemented, and the corresponding resource tax will be levied according to the quantity and method of environmental resources development and utilization.
3. The principle of beneficiary compensation. On the one hand, the beneficiaries of environmental improvement pay taxes according to the level of welfare they enjoy and bear part of the responsibility for environmental governance. On the other hand, we should give tax incentives, actively improve environmental protection conditions and carry out "green" production and consumption.
4. The principle of reasonable burden. To achieve a reasonable burden, we must ensure that the tax reform does not increase the overall burden of taxpayers, and the new ecological tax should be offset by reducing the tax burden of other taxes. For example, western countries reduce other tax burdens of enterprises while levying new environmental taxes. Second, we should avoid double taxation and increase the burden on taxpayers. At present, combined with the reform of the tax and fee system, the environmental protection fees paid by enterprises should be incorporated into the ecological tax and collected together. Third, design the tax rate reasonably. To prevent high tax rates from inhibiting production and causing society to pay too much for being too clean. Fourth, the reasonable burden should be treated differently, and different tax rates should be implemented for different regions, different departments and different pollution levels.
(B) "Green" tax design should follow the principles.
In the tax reform, we need to follow the following principles to reflect and realize tax efficiency:
1. The principle of economic efficiency. It means that while building a "green" tax system for social and economic sustainable development, we should give full play to the role of resource allocation and levy taxes on enterprises and products that produce negative externalities until heavy taxes are levied. The principle of tax preference should be applied to enterprises and products with positive externalities, so as to correct the defects of market mechanism and improve the efficiency of resource allocation.
2. The principle of social ecological efficiency. It is required to protect the social ecological environment and maintain the sustainable development of social economy.
3. The principle of gradualism. In the construction of China's "green" tax system, we should learn from foreign successful experiences and consider China's national conditions and tax collection and management level, step by step, from easy to difficult, unified planning, step by step implementation and gradual improvement.
4. The principle of coordination and complementarity. When designing taxes in our country, we should make all taxes perform their duties and coordinate with each other to form a "green" tax system and form a joint force.
5. The principle of administrative efficiency. According to the requirements of simplifying the tax system, it is simple and clear, and easy to collect and pay.
(C) China's "green" tax system construction ideas
1. Collect environmental protection tax. It refers to a tax levied on products that directly pollute the environment and cause environmental pollution during consumption for the purpose of environmental protection. The main purpose of levying environmental protection tax is to change market signals through the pricing of environmental resources, reduce pollution emissions in the process of production and consumption, and encourage the production and consumption of "green" products and pollution-free products that are beneficial to the environment, thus achieving the purpose of protecting the environment. We can learn from international experience and consider levying air pollution tax, water pollution tax, solid waste tax, garbage tax and noise tax in combination with China's specific situation. And implement different tax rates according to the characteristics of pollutants.
2. Adjust and improve the resource tax. First of all, establish a general resource tax and implement the principle of universal taxation for all units and individuals that exploit natural resources. The second is to expand the scope of resource tax collection, and gradually expand the scope of collection to natural resources such as land, fresh water, forests, grasslands and oceans. At present, land, grassland, water, forest and other resources should be included in the scope of expropriation as soon as possible to alleviate the urgent problems such as the destruction of land, grassland and forest and the serious shortage of water resources. The third is to increase the tax rate, and implement different tax rates according to the characteristics of different resources, so that the price of resources can reflect the value and scarcity of resources as truly as possible, thus promoting the rational development and utilization of resources. The fourth is to improve the tax basis, and change the current resource tax according to the sales quantity or self-use quantity of resource products to the actual production quantity. The fifth is to clear fees and establish taxes, and include resource compensation fees, water resources fees, afforestation funds, forestry compensation fees and forestry administration protection fees into resource taxes.
3. Reform and improvement of turnover tax. First, to improve the value-added tax, we should speed up the transformation and reform of value-added tax and promote the technological progress and equipment renewal of enterprises; Increase the input tax deduction system for enterprises to purchase dust removal and pollution control equipment; Cancel the existing regulations on exemption of value-added tax on agricultural films and pesticides for the development of agriculture. The second is to reform the consumption tax and further expand the scope of consumption tax collection. As soon as possible, some consumer goods and behaviors that consume a lot of resources and pollute the environment, such as mercury-containing cadmium batteries, chlorofluorocarbon products and disposable foamed tableware, will be included in the scope of consumption tax collection; Design the consumption tax rate according to the environmental friendliness of different products and the level of resource consumption. Encourage the use of clean products and advocate "green" consumption; Increase consumption tax on coal resources and determine consumption tax according to coal quality. Clean coal is exempt from consumption tax.
4. Levy fuel tax. From the perspective of ecological environment protection, levying fuel tax is a powerful measure to solve the shortage of resources and environmental deterioration in China. On the one hand, it can limit the consumption of oil resources economically, and on the other hand, it can encourage people to use environmentally friendly means of transportation or clean alternative energy sources, thus reducing the pollution of fuel to the atmosphere.
5. Establish a "green" tax incentive mechanism. Improve the preferential tax policies for "green" industries: first, formulate "green" technical standards and give tax incentives to the research, development, transfer, introduction and use of "green" technologies. The second is to formulate "green" industrial policies, such as "green" enterprises can enjoy certain income tax relief, accelerate the depreciation of "green" equipment, encourage "green" investment, and implement tax refund policies. The third is to formulate necessary preferential tax policies for resource recovery and improve the utilization rate of resources.
6. Implement a "green" tariff system. Including export tax and import tax, in the import tax, the internationally accepted "polluter pays" principle is implemented, and import tax is levied on products and technologies that have certain environmental pollution or may cause environmental pollution, so as to prevent pollution from being transferred from developed countries. The main target of export tax is domestic resources, including raw materials, primary products and semi-finished products. The purpose of tax collection is to effectively protect non-renewable resources and prevent a large loss of resources. The "green" tariff system can also reduce the import tariffs on imported pollution control equipment, environmental monitoring and research instruments and environmentally friendly technologies that cannot be produced in China. At the same time, it encourages the export of high value-added technology-intensive products, thus improving China's export structure. On the basis of learning from the experience of developed countries, we should establish "green" tariff barriers to foreign trade.