The Impact of ESG Performance on Corporate Tax Burden
Abstract
of long-term competitiveness, while non-compliant tax practices and aggressive tax avoidance by enterprises remain prominent issues. This
study aims to explore the impact of ESG performance on corporate tax burdens and provide theoretical support for building green tax systems
and optimizing tax supervision. Using data from 4, 307 Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies spanning 2014 to 2023, we conduct
empirical analysis based on stakeholder theory, signal transmission theory, and tax compliance theory. The baseline regression results show
that ESG performance has a significant positive correlation with corporate actual tax burden, which remains robust after excluding exceptional
years, introducing industry fixed effects, and adjusting standard errors. The findings indicate that enterprises with superior ESG performance
exhibit higher information transparency and stronger compliance awareness, leading them to adhere more strictly to tax regulations, reduce
aggressive tax avoidance, and thus bear a relatively higher effective tax burden. This study enriches the research on the economic consequences of ESG performance and provides practical implications for governments to improve tax policies and for enterprises to optimize ESG and
tax compliance strategies.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
[1] Baudot L, Johnson A J, Roberts A, et al. Baudot L, Johnson A J, Roberts A, et al. Is Corporate Tax Aggressiveness a Reputation
Threat? Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Tax Behavior[J]. Journal of Business Ethics, 2020,
163(2):197-215.
[2] ElamerA A, BoulhagaM, IbrahimA B. Corporate tax avoidance and firm value: The moderating role of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings[J]. Business Strategy and the Environment, 2024, 33(7):7446-7461.
[3] Daniel H, Vivek M. Every Day Is Earth Day: Evidence on the Long-Term Impact of Environmental Activism[J]. American Economic
Journal: Applied Economics, 2023, 15(1):230-258.
[4] Fu X, Zhang X. Tax burden and enterprises' ESG performance[J]. International Review of Financial Analysis, 2025, 103104223-104223.
DOI:10.1016/J.IRFA.2025.104223.
[5] Bressan S. ESG, Taxes, and Profitability of Insurers[J]. Sustainability, 2023, 15(18): DOI:10.3390/SU151813937.
[6] Jiang H, Hu W, Jiang P. Does ESG performance affect corporate tax avoidance? Evidence from China[J]. Finance Research Letters,
2024, 61105056-.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.70711/memf.v3i2.8833
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
