Problems and Thoughts on the Reform of Rural Taxes and Fees

The reform of rural taxes and fees is a major measure taken by the Party Central Committee and the State Council to take overall action and review the situation and make a plan to regulate the rural tax and fee system and fundamentally reduce the burden on farmers. In the first half of 2002-2003, according to the unified deployment of the central, provincial, municipal, and districts, the town actively and steadily implemented the rural tax and fee reform and achieved phased results. After the reform, the total burden of farmers in our town was 2,677,200 yuan, of which: the agricultural positive tax was 1,897,600 yuan, the agricultural tax was 379,600 yuan, the muping burden was 61.7 yuan, and the muping burden was decreased by 25.49%, 20% than the provincial regulations. The standard has been reduced by 5.49, reaching the goal of reducing the burden on the village and benefiting the household. At the same time, it has curbed rural illegal charges, indiscriminate fund-raising and various apportionment; standardized the rural taxation system; closed the relationship between the cadres and the masses, and further enhanced the prestige of the party and the government among the peasants, effectively promoting the stability and development of the rural areas. However, judging from the practice of rural tax and fee reform in our town, there are still many problems in the reform of rural taxes and fees, which have brought certain impacts on the economic development of the towns and villages. We need to seriously study and solve them.

Problem and cause

The village-level burden is heavy and the debt is difficult to solve.

By the end of 2002, the total debt of the 15 villages in the town was 6.643 million yuan, the village level was 442,900 yuan, the most liberated villages reached 832,000 yuan, and the village-level debt farmers were 420.5 yuan. According to our investigation, these debts are mainly caused by the “Pujiu” standard, the low-yield loans of some farmers, the high-interest loans caused by the development of local businesses, the agricultural tax paid by the village, and the poor financial management. Incapable of repaying, after the tax increase, the source of funds at the village level is narrowed, and debt repayment is more difficult. As a result, village-level debts are superimposed year by year, burdens are heavy, and debt resolution is becoming more and more difficult.

Farmers have a poor taxation awareness, and it is difficult to impose agricultural taxes and additional taxes.

In recent years, due to the impact of the market and natural disasters, the comparative benefits of farmers have been declining year by year, farmers' tax awareness has deteriorated, and the difficulty in collecting agricultural taxes and fees has always been a prominent problem that plagues town and village cadres. After the reform of taxes and fees, on the one hand, according to the requirements of the higher authorities, the main body of agricultural tax and additional expropriation is the financial department, while the grassroots financial institutions have fewer personnel. One village finance office can only arrange one person to collect, and some even two villages are responsible for collecting. In the face of thousands of households, they have done their best to complete the collection task. The role of the township and village cadres is to assist, the household can only be "doing work-oriented", and it is not straightforward; on the other hand, the rules of the superiors lock the debts over the years, and the levy of the previous years is not allowed. The retreat has caused some people to misunderstand and believe that the arrears can not be repaid. Some farmers even said that the taxes and fees of the year were not paid, and they would not become arrears until the next year. This has dealt a heavy blow to some farmers who have paid a lot of money, which has made some farmers who are actively paying money unwilling to repay their money. Third, in the past, the tax collectors can hand over the goods, and some of the villages are subsidized from the three villages. However, cash can only be collected from farmers, which greatly increases the difficulty of collecting taxes. Therefore, from these three aspects, after the rural taxes and fees have been changed, the farmers’ tax awareness is poor, and the agricultural tax and additional income increase are more and more difficult.

The village-level economic strength is weak, and the development of village-level public welfare undertakings is difficult.

The tax and fee reform policy stipulates that the funds needed for the establishment of collective production and public welfare undertakings in the village shall be handled in accordance with the principle of “measuring strength, benefiting the people, democratic decision-making, upper limit control, and using openness”. However, difficulties and contradictions exist in the actual operation at the village level. First, the understanding is not in place. After the tax reform, the construction of public welfare undertakings is decided by the villagers and fundraising by the villagers. For the two village committees, one is afraid of trouble, and more worried that it will not pay for it. It’s better to do something wrong with it, and it’s better to be “confronted”. natural. For the farmers, because the understanding is not in place, or because of the distrust of the two committees of the village, the proposal of the two committees of the village is clearly not supported. Second, the organization is difficult to get in place. The negative effect of the block formed by the village-level general election has affected the relationship between the cadres and the masses, sometimes directly causing the villagers' representative meetings to be difficult to call, or even if they come together, it is difficult to form a "consensus." Third, the village-level economy is fragile and development is difficult. Before the tax reform, the village-level economic sources were relatively wide, and the construction of public welfare undertakings was generally carried out by the village committee according to the actual capacity of the village level. After the tax reform, the village collective economy is difficult to develop, and the limited funds to protect the village level is still stretched, and it is even more incapable of considering other expenditures. In addition, although the construction projects agreed by the villagers' assembly are also difficult to raise due to the difficulties in raising the income of farmers. . As a result, the development of public welfare has been hindered. After the suspension of education fund-raising, rural China’s small capital investment has no source. Although it has given a little bit of transfer payment, the funding is still insufficient, which will definitely limit the development of rural education. Especially after the cancellation of the "two jobs", the organization of farmland water conservancy, road construction, bridging, cultural and health welfare, etc. is even more difficult. In particular, some cross-village water conservancy projects will be more difficult to implement, and there is a The phenomenon.

There are few incomes at the town and village levels, and it is difficult to work normally.

My town is a typical agricultural town with a weak industrial base. For a long time, the towns and villages have relied mainly on agricultural taxes to maintain the status quo. After the reform of taxes and fees, the reform plan stipulates that the agricultural tax surcharge can only collect up to 20% of the agricultural tax positive tax, and the agricultural tax will remain unchanged for a certain period of time, which leads to a significant decline in income at the township and village levels, and difficulty in increasing income. According to the survey, after the reform of taxes and fees, the funds available in 15 villages in our town were only 702,300 yuan, which was 263,700 yuan less than before the reform, with a decrease of 27.3%. The average income of each village was only 46,800 yuan. The financial gap also reached 231,200 yuan. This has weakened the economic strength of the township and village levels, and it is difficult for all kinds of work to function properly.

Thinking and suggestion

Through more than one year of rural tax and fee reform practice, we deeply realized that promoting rural tax and fee reform is the fundamental policy for safeguarding the interests of farmers and reducing the burden on farmers. It is also the concrete practice of the important thinking of the 'Three Represents' in rural areas. In order to conscientiously implement the spirit of the central government's reform of rural taxes and fees, ensure that the burden of farmers after the reform is significantly reduced, does not rebound, ensure the normal operation of township institutions and village-level organizations, ensure the normal needs of rural compulsory education funds, and exist for the reform of tax and fee in our town. The main problem, I think, should be resolved in the following five aspects in accordance with the principle of "consolidation, standardization, matching and improvement".

Strive to develop and strengthen the rural collective economy.

After the reform of rural taxes and fees, the total amount of agricultural taxes will remain unchanged for a certain period of time. The towns and villages with the same agricultural tax as our town have no room for growth in a certain period of time, reducing the burden on farmers and solving rural taxes and fees. In the fundamental and long-term perspective, the various contradictions and difficulties faced in reform and rural development must be realized by developing and strengthening economic strength. The rural economy is not developed, and the burden on farmers is hard to reduce, and it is difficult to stabilize. Therefore, we must further emancipate our minds, effectively transform our functions, seize the opportunity of rural tax and fee reform, speed up the pace of rural economic restructuring, do everything possible to develop agricultural products processing industry, do a good job in processing and transformation of agricultural and sideline products, increase farmers' income, and drive farmers to become rich. Vigorously implement the strategy of opening up the town, introduce and cultivate key tax sources, strengthen the financial resources of the towns and villages, and provide guarantees for consolidating the results of rural tax and fee reform.

Efforts to resolve the problem of debt at the town and village levels.

The long-term formation of various debts at the town and village levels has become a heavy burden for rural tax and fee reform. After the implementation of rural tax and fee reform, the township-level finances are tight, the sources of village-level funds are narrowed, and debt reduction is more difficult. Therefore, in solving the problem of the two levels of debts at the town and village, it is necessary to resolve the work ideas in accordance with the principle of “differentiating the situation, clarifying the creditor's rights, taking responsibility, classifying and gradually solving”. For the town government's liabilities, the town government will solve the problem by developing a town-level economy and revitalizing assets. First, through the auction of villages, hills, slopes, fishing ponds and other resource use rights and village collective idle assets, revitalizing assets to pay debts. The second is to cut interest rates and reduce debts for high-interest loans that do not meet the state regulations. Third, the tax owed by the peasants over the years has been advanced by the village collectives and should be implemented in accordance with the relevant policies on rural tax and fee reform.

Effectively solve the problem of financial gaps in towns and villages.

After the implementation of the rural tax and fee reform, as the burden on farmers has eased, the income at the town and village levels has decreased accordingly. There is a big gap in the financial situation. To solve this problem, the general idea is to rely on self-reliance, increase income and reduce expenditure, and base on making up the financial gap through reform and development. First, we must vigorously reduce the number of institutions, merge and set up excessive and scattered institutions, streamline the township financial support personnel, and achieve "subtraction, reduction, and reduction." Second, we must promote the reform of rural education, optimize the allocation of educational resources, save education funds, and effectively solve the problem of the normal needs of rural compulsory education. The third is to adjust and improve the township financial system and regulate the distribution relationship between towns and villages. The fourth is to further standardize village-level financial management, reduce non-productive expenses, cancel village-level hospitality expenses, and reduce village-level expenditures. The fifth is to rationally manage financial resources, make full use of existing financial resources, develop the economy, and broaden financial resources.

Clearly levy the main body and standardize the tax collection and management work.

Establishing a standardized rural tax and fee system is an important part of rural tax and fee reform, and it is also the key to ensuring that farmers' burdens are alleviated and not rebounded. The first is to clarify the main body of tax collection and management. After the reform, the township and village cadres did not levy the qualifications of the law enforcement subject of the agricultural tax, and only the taxation obligation, so the tax collection and management body can only be the financial department. The second is to adjust and enrich the grassroots management and management forces to ensure that the main body of financial expropriation is in place, and establish a standardized agricultural tax collection and management mechanism in accordance with the requirements of “financial cadres taxing according to law, peasant people paying taxes according to law, and town and village cadres coordinating taxes according to law”. The third is to improve the way of collecting agricultural taxes. In places where villages or village groups are concentrated, set up fixed or mobile collection points, and implement the three-point collection method of “fixed, timed, and fixed”. The fourth is to strengthen policy propaganda and continuously raise the awareness of farmers to pay taxes on their own, from passive taxation to active tax payment. Fifth, it is necessary to formulate corresponding measures for the tax owed to protect the taxpaying enthusiasm of most farmers. Sixth, strengthen the construction of the collection and management team, effectively change the work style, standardize law enforcement behavior, and improve law enforcement supervision.

Standardize the issue of "one case, one discussion" in the village.

After the reform of rural taxes and fees, the construction of public welfare undertakings in the village mainly relies on “one case, one discussion” to raise funds for labor. On the issue of "one case, one discussion", it is necessary to prevent incidents and increase the burden on farmers; it is also necessary to prevent incidents from affecting the development of public welfare undertakings in the village. First, we must understand the public opinion, strengthen guidance, improve the villager representative conference system, fully respect the peasants' democratic rights, and truly achieve "peasant affairs, peasant discussion, peasant determination, and peasant management." We must strengthen guidance, prevent both deliberation and indecision, and never do anything. We must combine "one case and one discussion" with rural structural adjustment and rural civilization construction, and use limited funds for the most need to solve problems. The second is to adhere to principles and standardize operations. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of strict implementation of the upper limit control and the amount of force, strict work procedures, and standard operation. The third is government support and strict supervision. The government should actively support the public welfare undertakings that are urgently needed and cannot be implemented. Every aspect of the "one case, one discussion" implementation of supervision and inspection, and the list was announced to accept public supervision.