The Impact of Business Environment on the Innovation Incentive Effects of Fiscal and Taxation Policies in China

Translation: Fiscal and taxation policies have been widely used by governments at all levels in China to incentivize enterprise research and development (R&D) innovation. However, the effectiveness of these policies varies with the business environment in different regions. As a result, creating a favorable business environment has gradually become a key focus for governments at all levels. Scholars have conducted a series of studies on this topic, but there is still no consensus on the innovation incentive effects of fiscal and taxation policies and whether these effects are constrained by the business environment.

Therefore, based on a dual perspective of intellectual property protection and market competition, this study employs a fixed-effects panel model to investigate the impact of the business environment on the innovation incentive effects of fiscal and taxation policies. The research findings indicate that, overall, the business environment has a positive moderating effect on the innovation incentive of fiscal policies. The development of intellectual property protection systems only has a positive moderating effect on substantial innovation incentives provided through tax incentives.

Furthermore, the innovation incentive effects of fiscal subsidies and tax incentives exhibit a 'U-shaped' relationship with market competition. When the level of market competition is low, the strategic innovation incentive effect of fiscal subsidies and the substantial innovation incentive effect of tax incentives weaken as the level of market competition increases.

Under the dual influence of intellectual property protection and market competition, although the overall effect of tax incentives on innovation incentives is not significant, the incentive effect of strategic innovation is weakened, while the incentive effect of substantial innovation is enhanced.

When examining different samples, the difference in the innovation incentive effects of fiscal subsidies policies among different enterprises is small, while the substantial innovation incentive effect of tax incentives is more significant for high-tech enterprises, private enterprises, and large enterprises.

The research conclusions broaden the existing theoretical perspectives on the impact of the business environment on the innovation incentive effects of fiscal and taxation policies and provide theoretical support for the construction of business environments by governments at all levels.