Can environmental taxes force corporate green innovation to achieve comprehensive benefits that include economic, environmental, and social benefits? Based on the theoretical basis of Porter’s hypothesis, this article takes the industrial-listed companies of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share in 2007—2015 as the research object, empirically tests the impact of environmental taxes on corporate green innovation. The study finds that:environmental taxes effectively improve corporate green innovation, and show the lagging characteristics, that is, the current environmental taxes significantly increase the level of corporate green innovation in the next period or more periods. Further research finds that the positive impact of environmental taxes on corporate green innovation reflects in state-controlled enterprises, large-scale enterprises, and low financing restricted enterprises. The conclusion enriches the literature on the economic consequences of environmental taxes and the influencing factors of corporate green innovation in theory, and provides important enlightenment for perfecting China’s environmental taxes system and improving corporate green innovation in practice.