The Influence of Environmental Protection Tax Law on Urban Land Green Use Efficiency in China: The Nonlinear Moderating Effect of Tax Rate Increase

Due to the basic carrier function of land, the economic and ecological effects of Environmental Protection Tax Law (EPTL) will be reflected in the land use. Therefore, this article investigates the effect of EPTL on land green use efficiency (LGUE). To be specific, based on the panel data of 278 prefecture-level cities in China from 2012 to 2020, LGUE is evaluated through a global super efficiency epsilon-based measure (EBM) with unexpected output. Then, the reform of "sewage fee-to-tax" is regarded as a natural experiment to accurately evaluate the effect of EPTL on LGUE. The result that the implementation of EPTL significantly drives LGUE is confirmed. The mechanism tests show that the implementation of EPTL enhances the intensity of green innovation, promotes the optimization of industrial structure, and thereby improves LGUE. Moreover, we find that the moderating effect of tax rate increase is nonlinear and exhibits an inverted U-shape. That is, below a certain value, the tax rate increase will strengthen the EPTL's ability to improve LGUE. However, after exceeding the value, the tax rate increase will weaken the EPTL's ability to improve LGUE. Targeted suggestions are proposed for improving the environmental protection tax system and LGUE.