Impact of Environmental Tax on Corporate Sustainable Performance: Insights from High-Tech Firms in China

Xiaomin Zhao (), Jiahui Li and Yang Li
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Xiaomin Zhao: School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Jiahui Li: School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Yang Li: School of Management, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: High-tech enterprises play an important role in leading the future industrial transformation, and their sustainable development deserves attention. Using data of 263 high-tech listed firms in China, we explore the impact of environmental tax on corporate sustainable performance, and the mediating role of green innovation. The results show that environmental tax positively affects corporate green innovation. However, the impact of environmental tax on the sustainable performance of state-owned enterprises and private enterprises is quite different. For private enterprises, environmental tax has an inverted U-shaped impact on both corporate financial performance and environmental-social performance. Furthermore, green innovation mediates the relationship of environmental tax and financial performance. In contrast with private enterprises, for state-owned enterprises, environmental tax has a negative linear impact on corporate financial performance. There is no empirical evidence supporting the effect of environmental tax on the environmental social performance of state-owned enterprises. The results imply that the government should implement different tax policies according to the firms’ characteristics, to promote the corporate sustainable development, especially state-owned enterprises.

Keywords: environmental tax; green innovation; sustainable performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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