报告题目：Political Connections, Tax Refund Acquisition, and Resource Misallocation: Insights from China’s VAT Reform

报 告 人：赵仁杰 副教授（西北大学经济管理学院）

主 持 人：张同斌 教  授（东北财经大学经济学院副院长（主持工作））

报告时间：2024年10月11日（周五） 9:30-11:00

报告地点：东北财经大学劝学楼501会议室

主办单位：经济学院

【报告人简介】

赵仁杰，西北大学经济管理学院副教授，博士生导师，2021年获得上海财经大学经济学博士学位，主要研究方向为公共经济学和中国特色社会主义政治经济学。入选国家级青年人才计划、陕西省高层次人才引进计划、西北大学仲英青年学者，主持国家自然科学基金项目、陕西高校青年创新团队项目、陕西省社会科学基金等多项课题。目前已在《经济研究》、《管理世界》、《经济学季刊》、《世界经济》以及Regional Science and Urban Economics等中英文期刊发表论文40余篇，决策咨询成果获副国级领导人批示，担任《经济研究》、《管理世界》、《经济学季刊》、《世界经济》等国内顶级和权威期刊审稿人。研究成果先后获得陕西省第十六次哲学社会科学优秀成果一等奖、西安市科技进步三等奖、《经济学（季刊）》年度优秀论文提名奖、第四届谭崇台发展经济学奖学金。

Political Connections, Tax Refund Acquisition, and Resource Misallocation: Insights from China’s VAT Reform

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of political connections on firms’ access to VAT refund credits and resource misallocation in the context of China’s2018 dual reforms, including the VAT refund reform and the Tax Bureau merger reform. Using a triple-difference methodology, we explore how political connections with tax authorities influence the allocation of refunded input VAT credit carryovers (RIVCCs). Excluding the influence of the director’s competence, the reforms increase RIVCCs by 7% more for politically connected firms relative to non-connected firms. Our findings reveal that politically connected firms, particularly those with connections to Local Tax Bureaus (LTBs), benefit disproportionately from the reforms compared to non-connected firms. Additionally, the heterogeneity of effects based on firm ownership, size, and age further highlights the unequal distribution of benefits, with non-SOEs and larger, older firms gaining more through their political connections. The 2018 reforms exacerbated resource misallocation, as politically connected firms exhibited greater total factor productivity (TFP) dispersion within industries across cities, driven by uneven distributions of financial capabilities, innovation, and market power.