Abstract: Horizontal tax distribution is an important part of intergovernmental tax relations. The tax collection and distribution mode of“collecting locally and dividing locally”has shaped the “Chinese-style horizontal tax distribution mode”, in which the allocation of horizontal tax collection and management power determines the horizontal tax distribution, resulting in inter-regional tax transfers. This paper puts horizontal tax transfer and local fiscal expenditure into a theoretical analysis framework and adopts the provincial panel data from 2007 to 2019 to study the impact of tax transfer on local fiscal expenditures in China. The results show that, on the whole, most of the central and western provinces are the net outflow places of tax transfer, while a few of the eastern provinces are the net inflow places of tax transfer, which intensifies the horizontal fiscal imbalance. Tax transfer will affect local fiscal expenditure through financial effect and cost output effect, and also cause changes in the proportionof social expenditure, the proportion of economic expenditure and the land transfer area. Therefore, it is suggested to improve the horizontal tax distribution system, change the way of taxation and tax distribution mainly based on the principle of production location, promote the reform of tax revenue matching with tax costs within the region, and perfect the distribution mechanism of the subjectivity shared tax, including the value-added tax, corporate income tax, and individual income tax.

Key words: horizontal tax transfer, local fiscal expenditure, financial effect, principle of place of production, principle of place of consumption