Residents’ income distribution effect of business tax replaced with VAT reform—based on CGE model

Abstract

Using the 2012 input-output table of China, this study constructs a computable general equilibrium model by embedding the value-added tax (VAT) deduction mechanism into the price model and analyses the effect of replacing the business tax with the VAT reform on residents’ income distribution. The study shows that the VAT reform is generally conducive to residents’ income distribution. Specifically, the VAT reform decreases the indirect tax burden of residents, increases their real income, and narrows down the relative income gap between urban and rural residents. From the perspective of differences between the before- and after-tax Gini coefficients (the MT index), both the pilot VAT reform and VAT reform improve the residents’ income distribution. The VAT reform also improves the welfare of households.