Title: Can 'tight living' promote local government to improve the efficiency of fiscal expenditure?: Evidence from the VAT Reform in China

Authors: Chun Wang

Addresses: School of Finance, Renmin University of China, No. 59 Zhongguancun Street, Haidian District, Beijing, 100872, China

Abstract: This paper analyses the comprehensive and sub-item fiscal expenditure efficiency data of 266 prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2019. It uses the DID method to empirically examine the impact of fiscal pressure on local fiscal expenditure efficiency The research finds that: 1) the nationwide promotion of the pilot program of 'replacing business tax with VAT' has reduced local financial resources, increased financial pressure, and increased the efficiency of local government fiscal expenditures Still, the expenditure structure has mostly stayed the same; 2) the efficiency improvement effect of fiscal pressure in eastern regions and developed secondary industries is more significant; 3) these findings are crucial to revealing the impact of China's 'pressure-type' fiscal incentives on fiscal expenditure efficiency and even local government behaviour.

Keywords: fiscal expenditure efficiency; fiscal pressure; business tax replaced with VAT Reform; fiscal expenditure quality; local government; public finance; three-stage DEA; DID method; tax reform; industrial structure; DDD method; budget transparency; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMABS.2024.138448

International Journal of Markets and Business Systems, 2024 Vol.5 No.1, pp.74 - 90

Received: 03 Dec 2023
Accepted: 29 Jan 2024
Published online: 03 May 2024 *

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