The Effect of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Tax, Natural Resources Related Tax, Environmental Pollution Control Investment on China's Economic Growth

This study is grounded in the marginal productivity theory and Pigouvian tax theory.Utilizing panel data from China spanning 2003 to 2022 and employing the Cobb-Douglas production function as the analytical framework, this study examines the impact of natural resources, natural resources tax, natural resources related tax, and environmental pollution control investment on Gross Domestic Product (GDP).At the national level, the results indicate that natural resources and natural resource tax have a positive effect on economic growth.Conversely, natural resources related tax and environmental pollution control investment show a negative correlation with GDP growth.Regionally, these variables exhibit heterogeneous effects across China's eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions.Specifically, natural resources significantly promote economic growth only in the eastern region, while their impact in the central, western, and northeastern regions remains inconclusive.The natural resources tax positively influences economic growth in the western region, but its effect in the other regions is ambiguous.In contrast, natural resources related tax inhibits economic growth in the western region but contribute positively to growth in the central region; their influence in the eastern and northeastern regions is statistically insignificant.Finally, environmental pollution control investment negatively affects economic growth in the central and western regions, with uncertain impacts in the eastern and northeastern regions.These findings underscore the complex, region-specific dynamics between taxation, environmental investment, and economic performance in China.