Abstract: In most developed countries, the function of consumption tax is mainly reflected in the organization of tax revenue, the regulation of the consumption structure, and more distinctly in the correction of externalities through raising the prices of taxable consumer goods. This empirical analysis shows that in recent years, although China has made some adjustments on the items and tax rates of the consumption tax, yet the overall effect of the consumption tax is still limited. Therefore, further adjustment and reform of the consumption tax policy must be carried out in the four aspects: the first is to strengthen the three functions of consumption tax and expand the proportion of consumption tax in the GDP; secondly, to give full play to the externality correction function of the consumption tax, to expand, add more items and integrate the consumption tax; thirdly, to give reasonable play to the revenue regulation fuction of the consumption tax with clear target and full regulation; the fourth is to make a reasonable division of the central and local taxes, so as to match the reform of the optimized institution.

Key words: consumption tax; function evaluation; revenue function; distribution function; external compensation function