Urgent need: English report on fuel tax reform

In the past 30 years of reform and opening up, China's economic construction and social progress have made great achievements that have attracted worldwide attention, and the tax cause has undergone earth-shaking changes, which has played an increasingly prominent role in economic development and improvement of people's livelihood. On the basis of reviewing the development and changes of China's tax system in the past 30 years, this paper analyzes the opportunities and challenges that the tax system reform will face under the background of market economy development, deepening system reform and economic globalization, and discusses how to promote a new round of tax system reform from seven aspects, such as perfecting the value-added tax system, which has important practical and practical significance.

Keywords: tax reform, opportunities and challenges, some thoughts

The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee from 65438 to 0978 kicked off the reform and opening up, and China began the great process of modernization. The people of the whole country have worked hard to build the country, and the economy has grown rapidly for a long time, and great achievements have attracted worldwide attention. Over the past 30 years, the country has been prosperous and the people have benefited a lot. As an important part of the supporting reform of the economic system, the tax reform has been steadily promoted, which has promoted the rapid growth of tax revenue and played an increasingly prominent role in economic development and improvement of people's livelihood. It is of great practical significance to carefully analyze the development and changes of the tax system in the past 30 years of reform and opening up and explore how to promote a new round of tax reform.

First of all, it briefly reviews the 30 years of tax reform in China.

The tax reform in the past 30 years has experienced two major periods and six major changes. The total tax revenue rose from 65,438+591100 million yuan in 0978 to 4,944.9 billion yuan in 2007, with an average annual increase of 2.79 times, which is a miracle of the world and profoundly affects all aspects of economic life. The first phase is from 1978 to 1993. In order to meet the needs of reform and opening up, state-owned enterprises have comprehensively implemented tax and industrial and commercial tax system reforms. 1992 after Deng Xiaoping's southern tour speech, the socialist market economic system was established. In order to meet the needs of market economy in the new era, the second large-scale tax reform was carried out in 1994 after the reform and opening up.

1978-2007 growth chart of total tax revenue

(1) personal income tax reform. With the economic development brought by reform and development, it is necessary to alleviate the uneven distribution of social income through tax adjustment. China's first individual income tax law was promulgated and implemented in September 1980. Later, tax laws and regulations concerning the distribution of personal interests were promulgated one after another: 1985, the interim provisions on bonus tax of state-owned enterprises, salary adjustment tax of state-owned enterprises, bonus tax of collective enterprises and bonus tax of public institutions were promulgated one after another; From 1986 to 1988, the provisional regulations on income tax for urban and rural individual industrial and commercial households, the provisional regulations on personal income adjustment and the regulations on the collection of personal income adjustment tax for private enterprise investors have been promulgated one after another. 1994 the revised individual income tax law came into effect, combining individual income tax, personal income adjustment tax and individual industrial and commercial household income tax into individual income tax; 1999 personal income tax law was revised again, and interest tax was levied on savings deposits; The third revision adjusted the threshold to 1600 yuan; Since March 2008, the threshold has been adjusted to 2000 yuan.

(2) The foreign-related tax system was initially established. 1The income tax law for Sino-foreign joint ventures promulgated in September, 1980, and the income tax law for foreign enterprises promulgated in June,198/0 greatly promoted the development of foreign-related economy. From 1980 to 1990, foreign investment has grown from scratch, and the effect of attracting foreign investment has begun to show. In the past ten years, China has actually utilized foreign direct investment of US$ 20.692 billion, and the foreign-related tax revenue is only RMB10.50 billion in10.980, reaching RMB 4.910.50 billion in/kloc-0.990. 199 1 7 The income tax law for foreign-invested enterprises and foreign enterprises, which came into effect on July, implements a unified income tax law for Chinese-foreign joint ventures, cooperative enterprises and foreign enterprises. Due to the general reduction of income tax burden, it has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of foreign investment and attracted a lot of foreign capital. From 199 1 to 1993, foreign capital has gradually expanded, bringing not only construction funds, but also advanced technical experience, which has promoted the rapid economic growth of China and improved the technical level and enterprise management level. However, the dual-track system of internal and external taxation forms discrimination against nationals, super-national treatment for foreigners and unfair taxation.

(3) Changing profits into taxes and reforming the industrial and commercial tax system. On the basis of summing up the development experience of domestic circulation tax system, pilot projects of value-added tax were carried out in Liuzhou, Changsha, Qingdao, Shanghai and other cities from 65438 to 0980, and the interim measures for value-added tax were implemented from 65438 to 0983. The first step was to implement the tax reform for state-owned enterprises, and the income tax and adjustment tax for state-owned enterprises began to take shape. 1984, the second step of tax reform was implemented for state-owned enterprises, and the current industrial and commercial taxes were divided into four categories according to their nature: product tax, value-added tax, business tax and salt tax. Levy income tax on state-owned enterprises; Levy resource tax and profit adjustment tax; Change the fixed assets occupation fee paid by state-owned enterprises into fixed assets tax; Resume the collection of urban property tax, vehicle and vessel license tax, stamp duty, special consumption behavior tax and market transaction tax, levy land use tax and urban construction tax, and establish a multi-tax, multi-link and multi-level compound tax, and China's tax system construction has begun to enter a new track. And successively introduced the special oil burning tax, livestock transaction tax, building tax, construction tax, state-owned enterprise income tax, state-owned enterprise adjustment tax, product tax, value-added tax, business tax, salt tax, resource tax, national energy and transportation key construction fund, national budget adjustment fund, urban maintenance and construction tax, import and export tariff, vehicle and vessel use tax, property tax, banquet tax, stamp tax, special consumption tax, education surcharge, fixed assets. Farmland occupation tax and other tax laws and regulations, rationally adjust the economic interests of all aspects, correctly handle the interests of the state, enterprises and individuals, the relationship between the central and local governments, give full play to the role of taxation, and promote the development of the national economy.

(4) Tax-sharing reform. In the early 1990s, the central government was faced with weak financial resources and a serious shortage of funds necessary for national defense, basic research and various aspects of construction, which triggered a far-reaching tax-sharing reform from 65438 to 0994, and established a basic framework for the financial distribution relationship between the central and local governments under the market economy. In that year, the central fiscal revenue increased by 200% over the previous year, and its proportion in the total national fiscal revenue rose sharply from 22% in the previous year to 56%. During this period, the value-added tax was fully implemented, and in February 1993, three temporary regulations on value-added tax, consumption tax and business tax were issued, forming a turnover tax system based on value-added tax. After the reform, turnover tax consists of value-added tax, consumption tax and business tax, which is applicable to domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, and the provision of consolidated industrial and commercial tax on foreign-funded enterprises has been abolished. Unify the income tax system of domestic-funded enterprises, and1issued the Provisional Regulations on Enterprise Income Tax in February 1993, unifying the original state-owned enterprise income tax, state-owned enterprise adjustment tax, collective enterprise income tax and private enterprise income tax into enterprise income tax; 1993 February,1993 "Provisional Regulations on Land Value-added Tax" was issued to levy land value-added tax; Incorporate salt tax into resource tax, special consumption tax and special oil burning tax into consumption tax, and cancel product tax, salt tax, market transaction tax, livestock transaction tax, three bonus taxes, wage adjustment tax and two funds; Slaughter tax and banquet tax continue to be levied or stopped to be delegated to provincial and municipal people's governments; Clarify the applicable taxes for foreign-funded enterprises and foreign individuals; 1997 10 to implement the provisional regulations on deed tax and collect deed tax; From June 5438 to October 2000 10, the provisional regulations on vehicle purchase tax were implemented and vehicle purchase tax was levied; Since 2002, the management measures of tax exemption and refund have been fully implemented for goods exported by production enterprises on their own account or on commission, and the burden mechanism of export tax refund will be further improved in 2005; Since July, 2004, some industries in Northeast China have carried out the pilot reform of changing the value-added tax from production to consumption, and gradually adjusted and improved the relevant systems of value-added tax. In 2005, the pilot scheme was further improved, and consumption-oriented value-added tax was implemented in the central and western regions and some old industrial cities in Wenchuan earthquake-stricken areas, which accumulated experience for the next step of comprehensively promoting the transformation of value-added tax. In May 2006, the Provisional Regulations on Tobacco came into effect, and tobacco tax was levied. Since 2007, the temporary regulations on vehicle and vessel tax have been implemented and the temporary regulations on vehicle license plate tax and vehicle and vessel use tax have been abolished; Revise the provisional regulations on urban land use tax, initially establish a tax framework that meets the requirements of market economy development, strengthen the macro-control function of tax as an economic lever, and promote the sustained, rapid and healthy development of the national economy. The tax-sharing system has played a series of positive roles for more than ten years, but it has gradually exposed and accumulated some problems. For example, the contradiction between tax sources and operating costs of two tax collection and management institutions, national tax and local tax, is accumulating day by day, especially the obstacles to the division of labor in enterprise income tax collection and management.

(5) Abolish the agricultural tax. Starting from 1983, in addition to the agricultural tax, according to the provisions of the agricultural tax regulations, the State Council decided to levy agricultural tax on agricultural and forestry specialties, and changed it from 1994 to agricultural specialty agricultural tax; Pastoral provinces collect animal husbandry tax according to authorization. By the end of 2005, the agricultural tax system actually included agricultural tax, agricultural specialty tax and animal husbandry tax. As early as 2004, the government began to implement the policy of benefiting farmers by reducing or exempting agricultural taxes. By the end of 2005, nearly 800 million farmers had directly benefited. Since 2006, agricultural tax has been completely abolished nationwide, and agricultural tax regulations have been abolished. There are 900 million farmers in China who bid farewell to the 2600-year-old "imperial grain national tax" agricultural tax, which marks a new breakthrough in the construction of new socialist countryside, a fundamental change in the traditional distribution relationship between the state and farmers, a reversal of the long-term situation of excessive burden on farmers, a new step in coordinating urban and rural development, and an important stage achievement in rural tax and fee reform. Compared with 1999 before the rural tax and fee reform, in 2006, the national farmers * * * reduced their burdens by about 125 billion yuan, and the per capita burden was about 140 yuan.

(6) the merger of the two taxes. Since 2008, the enterprise income tax law and its implementing regulations have achieved four unifications, that is, domestic and foreign-funded enterprises apply the same enterprise income tax law, uniformly reduce the enterprise income tax rate to 25%, uniformly standardize the methods and standards of pre-tax deduction, unify tax preferential policies, and establish a tax preferential system with industry preferential treatment as the mainstay and regional preferential treatment as the supplement, thus creating a relatively relaxed fiscal and taxation environment for fair competition among various market players. Preferential tax policies mainly focus on promoting technological innovation and scientific and technological progress, encouraging infrastructure construction, encouraging agricultural development and environmental protection and energy conservation, supporting safe production, promoting public welfare undertakings and caring for vulnerable groups, and special tax-free preferential policies for natural disasters, which reflects the transformation of national development policies, that is, from export-oriented to economic system that pays more attention to domestic demand. At the same time, it also reflects the country's efforts to accelerate the development of science and technology and strengthen environmental governance, which is more in line with legal norms and more suitable for the needs of China's tax modernization.

Second, opportunities and challenges after 30 years of tax reform in China.

With the development of market economy and the deepening of system reform, China's economy has encountered deep-seated problems such as industrial restructuring, improving independent innovation ability, developing high-tech industries, full employment pressure, widening gap between the rich and the poor, protecting the environment and resources, and increasingly fierce competition in economic globalization. The tax reform will face the following opportunities and challenges:

(1) Economic globalization provides an important opportunity for tax reform. A new round of global industrial restructuring and international industrial transfer is rapidly unfolding. The external standardized market system, the informationization transformation of traditional industries, the establishment of emerging information industries and the informationization of the whole economic operation can quickly narrow the overall gap with developed countries and further optimize and upgrade the tax system. The main trends of tax reform in countries around the world are as follows: with the gradual improvement of financial situation, some countries have increased the use of preferential tax measures and gradually abandoned the principle of broad tax base, resulting in the decline of tax scale and macro tax burden; Gradually reduce the capital tax burden and levy a lighter tax on labor, thus promoting the improvement of the employment situation; The tax structure has changed more and more obviously, and the proportion of income tax has decreased, especially the proportion of personal income tax, social insurance tax and general commodity tax (mainly value-added tax) has increased. While controlling the growth of traditional taxes, more and more attention is paid to the adjustment and financing role of environmental taxes, and environmental-related taxes are levied. These factors have created external conditions for China to accelerate the process of industrialization, actively absorb international industrial transfer, improve the level of economic development with the help of exogenous production factors, promote industrialization with informationization, transform and upgrade traditional industries with advanced and applicable technologies, and take a new road of industrialization, thus deepening China's tax reform.

(2) China's economic and social development requires deepening the tax reform. At present, China is facing an important period of strategic opportunities and is in the stage of rapid economic growth. The comprehensive economic strength has been significantly enhanced, the industrial structure has been upgraded and optimized day by day, the role of export-oriented economy has been enhanced, institutional and institutional obstacles have been gradually solved, infrastructure bottlenecks have been gradually eased, social undertakings such as science, education, culture and health have been basically supported, people's livelihood issues have been continuously and effectively improved, and comprehensive national strength has shown an upward trend. In addition, a series of major strategic measures, such as establishing and implementing Scientific Outlook on Development, building a harmonious society and accelerating the construction of a new socialist countryside, have been put forward. However, at present, China's tax legislation has a low level and many authorizations, which are prone to problems such as many policies, poor transparency and strong arbitrariness. In the current tax system, only the Individual Income Tax Law, the Tax Administration Law and the Enterprise Income Tax Law are the tax laws passed by the National People's Congress, and most other taxes are temporary regulations promulgated by the State Council. In terms of tax law authorization, there are long-term and massive tax law interpretation authorizations, and even some tax law interpretations actually belong to administrative interpretations. Moreover, the tax source structure and income structure cannot be synchronized. In recent years, the primary industry accounts for about 16% of the total tax source structure, the secondary industry accounts for about 5 1%, and the tertiary industry accounts for about 33%. In the tax revenue structure, the primary industry only accounts for 4% of the total revenue, the secondary industry accounts for about 62%, and the tertiary industry accounts for about 34%. The fundamental reason is that economic growth is over-dependent on investment and export expansion, technological progress of enterprises is over-dependent on foreign introduction, excessive development and utilization of resources are seriously wasted, internal effective demand is insufficient, and consumption rate is obviously low. It can be seen that whether the national economy can continue to maintain steady growth and whether the economic structure and industrial structure can be further optimized is also an important factor affecting tax reform and tax policy adjustment.

(3) The tax reform is relatively backward, the tax design is not reasonable, and there are some phenomena, such as large tax reform is not in place, small taxes are not in place for a long time, and new taxes are not in place, so the tax structure needs to be improved. First, the coexistence of value-added tax and business tax affects the integrity of the VAT deduction chain. Productive value-added tax has not completely eliminated the disadvantages of double taxation. Compared with the consumption-oriented value-added tax widely used in the world, the purchase of fixed assets such as civil engineering, machinery and equipment cannot be deducted, which increases the tax burden of enterprises, which is not conducive to the technological transformation and production growth mode transformation of enterprises, and is also not conducive to the product upgrading and economic development of enterprises. Second, the proportion of turnover tax and income tax is unbalanced, and the proportion of turnover tax in total tax revenue is much higher than that of most countries in the world. In 2007, the turnover tax and income tax revenue were 30,583.87 million yuan and1285,995,438+0 million yuan respectively, accounting for 6 1.85% and 26% of the total tax revenue. The proportion of turnover tax is too large, which leads to the misnomer of the dual-subject tax system model of turnover tax and income tax, which leads enterprises to bear the tax regardless of whether they are profitable or not, which affects the competitiveness of enterprises and increases the burden of export tax rebate, which is not conducive to the full play of the macro-control role of direct tax. Third, the scope of consumption tax collection is too small and the adjustment is insufficient. In 2007, the consumption tax revenue was only 220.682 billion yuan, accounting for 4.46% of the total tax revenue and 7.22% of the turnover tax revenue, which was far lower than the consumption tax in most countries in the world accounting for more than 40% of the turnover tax revenue. We should strengthen the selective turnover tax on resource products, high-end luxury goods and hobbies such as alcohol and tobacco, so as to adjust the social income distribution and promote the rational utilization of resources. Fourthly, the tax rate and expense deduction method of individual income tax in itemized taxation mode are not reasonable, which leads to the low proportion of individual income tax in income tax, and the proportion of individual income tax in total tax revenue has been maintained at the level of 6.5% ~ 7%, which is incompatible with the pattern that most countries in the world gradually slow down enterprise income tax and pay attention to strengthening individual income tax, and will not be conducive to exerting the income adjustment function of tax. Fifth, the resource tax burden is too light, and there is a lack of environmental taxes, property taxes and other taxes that are of great significance to the sustainable development of the economy and the adjustment of social income distribution. At present, there are many problems in the resource tax system, such as uncoordinated relationship between taxes and fees, nonstandard resource tax system, too centralized tax power and low efficiency of tax adjustment. There are also many problems in the resource tax system itself, such as too small income scale, too narrow tax scope, unreasonable tax basis and too light tax burden. The breadth and depth of tax adjustment are not enough, and the utilization rate of resources is low. In 2007, the resource tax revenue was only 26 1.25 billion yuan, accounting for 0.53% of the total tax revenue. The low proportion of resource tax revenue is not conducive to promoting comprehensive utilization of resources and achieving sustainable economic development. However, environmental taxes, property taxes and other taxes of great significance to social and economic development have not been levied, which leads to the failure of tax policies to play a good role in guiding resource allocation and regulating income distribution. Sixth, social security has not changed from fees to taxes, which has a certain negative impact on improving social security income. In developed countries, social security tax accounts for about 30% of tax revenue, which is basically equivalent to personal income tax and turnover tax, and is an important source of fiscal revenue. With the acceleration of population aging in China, social security expenditure has increased rapidly. It is beneficial to the development of social security to levy social security tax in time, change the current social security fee into tax, increase the intensity of collection and increase the transparency of social security revenue and expenditure. Seventh, the construction of local tax system lags behind, and the lack of main taxes is not conducive to the needs of local governments to strengthen their expenditure responsibilities and perform their functions; The weak macro-control ability of the current tax system is not conducive to promoting the development of high-tech enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises.

We believe that the tax reform, as a complex systematic project, not only faces the problems that adapt to the real social and economic development, but also involves the readjustment of various social interests, and even involves the sustainability of reform and opening up. Under the influence of various factors, it may face many opportunities and challenges.

Third, some thoughts on deepening the new round of tax reform in China.

Under the background of implementing Scientific Outlook on Development and building a harmonious society, to deepen the new round of tax reform in China, we should not only maintain steady and rapid economic growth and prevent a sharp decline in tax revenue, but also insist on seeking quick results from good practices, pay attention to optimizing the tax structure and strive to improve the quality and efficiency of tax revenue. We should not only pay attention to the economic growth rate, but also pay attention to the consumption of resources and energy and the cost of tax reform.

(1) Reform the value-added tax system and build a tax mechanism conducive to maintaining the overall economic vitality of the country for a long time. It is suggested that on the basis of successful pilot projects in three northeastern provinces, old industrial cities in the central and western regions and Wenchuan earthquake-stricken areas, from 2009, the production-oriented value-added tax should be changed into consumption-oriented value-added tax, and some business tax items such as transportation and construction should be changed into value-added tax to further expand the scope of value-added tax collection; At the same time, it is necessary to further integrate the preferential treatment of tax reduction and exemption in all aspects of value-added tax, appropriately reduce the threshold for the identification of general taxpayers and the collection rate of small-scale taxpayers, so as to fair the tax burden, reduce the loopholes in tax collection and management, ensure the integrity of the value-added tax chain, and avoid the distorting effect of the value-added tax system on economic development.

(2) Adjust consumption tax, and build a tax mechanism that is conducive to promoting the transformation of development mode, optimizing economic structure and enhancing economic strength. It is suggested that the scope of consumption tax should be adjusted structurally, the tax items and tax rates of consumption tax should be adjusted in a timely manner, and ordinary consumer goods such as ordinary cosmetics and low-grade liquor should be gradually eliminated from the tax items. The luxury consumer goods such as villas, saunas, horse racing, high-grade leather products, high-grade antiques, high-grade calligraphy and painting, high-grade KTV, resource consumer goods, consumer goods that are not conducive to physical and mental health and environmental protection, and consumption behaviors should be included in the scope of consumption tax collection. At the same time, high-grade yachts, golf and high-grade tobacco and alcohol should be appropriately increased. It is necessary to change the consumption tax into a retail link, from in-price tax to out-of-price tax, to further increase the income proportion of consumption tax and realize the adjustment of income distribution.

(3) Implementing the reform of individual income tax, and building a tax mechanism that is conducive to rationally adjusting income distribution, expanding middle-income people and improving the living standards of low-income people. In view of the irregular income distribution order in the economic transition period, there are still various gray incomes, a large number of cash transactions are difficult to supervise, and the degree of social credit needs to be further improved. It is necessary to establish a personal income tax system model that combines classification with comprehensive collection, further standardize the pre-tax deduction and tax exemption items of various expenses, include inheritance income and large property donation income into the accidental income tax scope of personal income tax, adjust excessive income, prevent excessive income distribution gap, and encourage hard work to get rich. In view of the problems that the progressive tax rate of wages and salaries is too small and the tax rate is too high, in order to reduce its negative regulating effect on income distribution, we should further consider simplifying the tax rate grade and adopt a relatively simple four-level progressive tax system of 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% to reduce the highest marginal tax rate and expand the tax band. At the same time, the determination standard of wage and salary exemption should be linked to the price index to avoid frequent changes in the tax system. Since 2009, the threshold has been adjusted to 5,000 yuan, and items such as deduction of interest expenses for self-occupied housing, deduction of large medical expenses, deduction of large education expenses, and deduction of expenses for supporting the elderly or raising children have been added, so as to give full play to the role of the personal income tax system in promoting the improvement of people's livelihood.

(4) Promote the reform of the resource tax system and build a tax mechanism conducive to promoting resource conservation and environmental protection. A good resource tax system is conducive to the establishment of a reasonable resource compensation mechanism. In view of the disadvantages of excessive flexibility in collecting resource compensation fees, we should consider raising the resource tax standard to alleviate the contradiction of uneven income distribution caused by unfair resource exploitation and production opportunities, and make contributions to the scientific transformation of China's foreign trade mode. At the same time, it is necessary to expand the scope of resource tax collection, adjust the tax basis of resource tax, incorporate mineral resources compensation fees and urban water resources fees into resource tax, increase the tax burden of resource tax, actively build green tax targets, and promote environmental protection and the formation of ecological civilization. Reform the existing consumption tax system, consider oil prices and other factors as a whole, and levy fuel tax in a timely manner; The environmental protection industry implements preferential tax policies, which reflects the encouragement of the state.

(five) the implementation of social security tax reform. It is suggested that the social security fee should be changed into social security tax as soon as possible, and a standardized, stable and reliable social security fund supply system covering the whole society should be established. At the same time, the determination of social security tax standard should consider the level of economic and social development and the constraints of the people on social security demand, so as to choose the appropriate social security coverage, security level, financing model and tax basis.

(6) Deepening the reform of the tax-sharing system. On the basis of ensuring the proportion of the central fiscal revenue to the total fiscal revenue, it is suggested to re-divide the tax distribution relationship between local and central governments, adjust the value-added tax sharing ratio from the current 25%: 75% to 50%, and stipulate the incremental part as a special fund to improve public service capacity and solve people's livelihood. Change the proportion of export tax rebate to the full burden of the central government; Adjust the proportion of enterprise income tax to the central revenue, and the national tax department is responsible for unified management and collection.

(seven) under the premise of unified tax management, give local appropriate tax management power, and enhance the adjustment function of local taxes. The new round of tax reform should not only emphasize the role of local governments in tax reform, but also rationally divide tax power and give local income autonomy on the basis of reasonably determining administrative and financial power. For local taxes formulated by the central government, we should consider allowing provincial people's governments to formulate detailed rules for the implementation of local taxes; For local taxes that are not uniformly collected throughout the country, the legislative power, interpretation power and collection and management power should be completely delegated to local governments; On the basis of ensuring the interests of the central government and other regions, provincial people's governments are allowed to levy new regional taxes through legislative procedures and with the approval of the central government; On the basis of centralized management of central taxes, tax enjoyment and local taxes that have a great impact on macro-control, the main types of local taxes are further clarified, and the provincial people's governments are given tax management authority over the main types of local taxes, such as tax items, tax rate adjustment, tax reduction and exemption.

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