关键词: 企业所得税改革, 企业所得税率, 劳动雇佣, 资本-劳动互补

Abstract: Reducing taxes and fees to stabilize businesses and maintain employment is an important focus of the current government work. To explore the crucial practical issue of whether corporate income tax reduction helps stabilize employment and secure livelihoods, this paper attempts to construct a theoretical model to analyze the influence of changes in corporate income tax rates on firms' employment decisions. Then it employs the implementation of the 2008 Corporate Income Tax Law as a quasi-natural experiment to conduct empirical tests by using a difference-in-differences model. The results show that a decrease in the tax rate significantly increased the scale of labor employment in enterprises. Conversely, an increase in the tax rate did not affect the scale of employment in enterprises. Additional analysis indicates that the beneficial effect of lowering the corporate income tax rate on employment is most evident among firms experiencing significant financing constraints, high levels of tax compliance, and those operating in highly competitive product markets. The mechanism analysis indicates that the decrease in the tax rate promotes corporate investment, which, due to capital-labor complementarity, ultimately leads to an increase in the scale of enterprise employment. This study deepens the understanding of the labor employment effects of tax reduction policies, contributing to the formulation and adjustment of subsequent tax reduction policies. Additionally, it provides policy insights into the tax administration reforms and market-oriented construction.

Key words: Corporate Income Tax Reform, Corporate Income Tax Rate, Labor Employment, Capital-Labor Complementarity