Abstract: Tax policy is one of the important instruments in China to promote the energy saving and emission reduction. By applying the econometric tools of Engle-Granger cointegration test, this paper carries out an empirical study on the effects of China’s tax policy on energy saving and emission reduction. The results indicate that from the long term, there exists a kind of cointegration relationship between the tax revenue of energy saving and emission reduction and the energy consumption of per unit GDP, but the effects of each tax on energy saving and emission reduction are quite different. Among them, the effect of value-added tax is significant, but there is still room for its improvement, while the consumption tax and resources tax do not play their proper roles. Therefore, it is suggested to adopt a series of measures to promoting the effects of tax policies, such as comprehensively reforming the resources tax system, expanding the scope of consumption tax, optimizing the value-added tax rates, and so on.

Key words: energy saving and emission reduction; tax revenue; effect of tax policy; VAT