What is social security equalization?

It is not only a change of name and form, but also its theoretical necessity, practical necessity and feasibility to replace payment production with individual tax payment system to raise funds for China's market economy and social security. By using the methods of empirical analysis and normative analysis, this paper focuses on the choice of social security financing model, a key issue in the reform of China's social security system. On the basis of in-depth analysis of the necessity and feasibility of levying social security tax and replacing the current social insurance payment with tax, this paper focuses on the analysis and preliminary planning of tax design and related issues. According to the idea of "social security-social security financing model-social security tax", the full text is divided into four parts.

The first part expounds several basic theoretical issues about social security, that is, what is social security, why should social security be established, and social security needs direct financial participation in management under the condition of socialist market economy, which lays a certain theoretical foundation for the following discussion. The second part directly launches the international comparative analysis of social security financing modes. Firstly, the specific practices of various representative countries that implement three different financing modes, namely, tax payment system, payment system and savings system, are enumerated, and on this basis, comparative analysis is made, and some enlightenment is obtained, which has direct guiding significance for the choice of social security financing mode in China. After international comparative analysis, this paper briefly reviews and summarizes the reform process and current situation of social security financing system in China. On the basis of some conclusions of the first two parts, the third part deeply analyzes the necessity and feasibility of taking tax payment as the financing method of social security under the condition of market economy in China in theory and practice, and discusses it from four aspects: from the international comparison, under the condition of socialist market economy, tax payment system should be the first choice of social security financing method; Levying social security tax is the inherent requirement of establishing and developing socialist market economy; There are many problems in the current social insurance payment system. Changing "fee" into "tax" is an inevitable requirement to solve practical contradictions and establish a new social security mechanism. At present, the subjective and objective conditions for levying social security tax in China have basically been met. The fourth part makes a basic analysis and preliminary planning of China's social security tax system. Firstly, the guiding ideology and basic principles of levying social security tax in China are clarified. On this basis, the selection and determination of various elements in tax design, such as collection scope, taxpayer, tax item, tax basis, accumulation method, tax rate and tax category, are deeply analyzed. Finally, some supporting measures and suggestions are put forward.

First, several basic theoretical issues about social security

(-) the connotation and extension of social security

SOCIAL SECURITY, English is "social, security", literally translated as "social security". This word originated from the social security law promulgated by the United States 1935. The definition of social security by the United Nations International Labour Office is that the society takes a series of protective measures to help people tide over the difficulties of wage or income loss caused by unemployment, old age, illness, maternity, work injury and death. The Concise Encyclopedia of Britain defines "social security" as "a public welfare plan aimed at protecting individuals and their families from income loss due to unemployment, old age, illness or death, and improving their welfare through public services …", and this definition has already included social services. Some people in China's academic circles also summarize social security as follows: in order to maintain economic development and social stability, the government and society provide material help and social services to ensure the basic needs of workers and social members through national income distribution and redistribution when workers and social members lose their labor ability or employment opportunities due to old age, disability, disease, or face difficulties in life due to natural disasters and accidents. Although the above definitions are expressed differently, their substantive connotations are the same.

Broadly speaking, social security under modern economic conditions generally includes four aspects, namely, social insurance, social assistance, social welfare and social preferential treatment.

Social insurance is a system funded by workers, units or communities, and the government in accordance with relevant national laws and regulations to help workers and their relatives prevent income interruption, reduction and loss when they encounter risks such as work injury, death, illness, pension, unemployment, and maternity, and ensure their basic living needs. It includes endowment insurance, unemployment insurance, medical insurance, industrial injury insurance and maternity insurance. Social insurance is enforced by the state in the whole society through legislative means, which is not for profit. Unlike voluntary commercial insurance, it has the characteristics of universality, compulsion, mutual assistance and compensation. Social insurance is the main content of social security. Social assistance is the financial and material assistance provided by the state and society to meet the minimum living needs of people who have no income, no source of livelihood, no family support and no ability to work, or individuals and families living below the "poverty line" or the minimum living standard, as well as victims of serious natural disasters and unfortunate accidents. Social assistance is the lowest level of social security, and its funds mainly come from general government taxes, donations from social groups and individuals, international organizations and foreign aid. Social welfare is a social system in which the state or society generally provides economic assistance and preferential services to all citizens in the fields of residential housing, public health, environmental protection and basic education within the scope permitted by laws and policies. It is manifested in various welfare facilities, social services and social welfare undertakings organized by the state and various social organizations. Compared with social assistance and social insurance, social welfare has the reputation of "high-level social security measures" because of its wide social coverage, equal treatment standards and more emphasis on improving the quality of life. Its source of funds is provided by the government and society, except for charging a small amount of fees to individuals in community service. Social special care is the economic support and services provided by the state to protect the living standards of active servicemen and their families, retired and veterans and their families, and all of them are allocated from the government budget.

According to the above definition, we can draw the following two understandings:-social security is essentially a social security mechanism established by the government, which is realized through the distribution and redistribution of socialized consumption of national income; Second, in terms of sources of social security funds, social insurance generally follows the principle of multiple burdens, highlighting individual obligations, while social assistance, social welfare, social preferential treatment, etc. all emphasize one-way sources of funds, and the government bears most of the funds. Therefore, the issue of social security financing actually mainly studies the issue of social insurance financing. In this paper, "social security financing" basically refers to social insurance, mainly involving pension, unemployment and medical social insurance.

(B) the theoretical basis for the establishment of social security

Many western theories and theories have detailed discussions on why to establish a social security system. For example, from the perspective of promoting the maximization of national welfare, welfare economics points out that income redistribution is an important way to maximize national welfare, and to achieve income equalization, it is necessary to raise funds for social relief and welfare systems with the help of progressive tax system. From the perspective of market failure, the theory of state intervention expounds that the market mechanism is difficult to protect the vulnerable groups in competition. The government must make up for the market failure by establishing social security system and increasing social security expenditure, so as to promote the stable operation of social economy. Keynes pointed out in the general theory of employment, interest and money published in 1936 that the overproduction and unemployment in capitalist society are caused by the lack of "effective demand", and full employment can be achieved by implementing economic policies to stimulate demand. At the same time, he put forward the ideas of establishing social security system, eliminating poverty, formulating minimum wage law and limiting working hours. After the war, Roosevelt's New Deal absorbed Keynes's policy ideas, increased the government's intervention in the economy, and established a set of social security system by enacting the Social Security Law, which greatly eased the social contradictions intensified by the crisis. Other influential theoretical viewpoints include the welfare state theory and the beveridge Plan.

Marxism profoundly discusses the theoretical basis of establishing social security from the perspective of meeting the needs of human survival, social reproduction and distribution redistribution. First of all, meeting people's needs is not only the purpose of socialist production, but also one of the theoretical foundations of socialist social security. People's needs are divided into three levels: survival, development and enjoyment, and the need for survival is the most basic need. The purpose of socialist production is to meet the people's growing material and cultural needs, and the first thing to ensure is the need for survival. The establishment of social security system is the institutional basis for ensuring the basic living needs of all socialist citizens. Secondly, social security fund deduction is an important part of Marxist social product distribution theory. Marx expounded the "six deductions" theory of social total product distribution in Critique of Gotha Program: "Now we should deduct from it: … Third, reserve funds or insurance funds used to cope with unfortunate accidents and natural disasters. ..... The rest of the total product is used as consumption data. Before individual distribution, this part must be deducted: ... Second, the part used to meet common needs, such as schools and health care facilities. Third, the fund set up for people who have lost their ability to work, in short, is now part of the so-called government-run poverty alleviation cause. " The above-mentioned "six deductions" theory is an important exposition of Marx on establishing social security, and it is still an important theoretical basis for establishing a social security system that meets the requirements of the socialist market economy. Finally, the establishment of social security is also one of the basic conditions for social reproduction, especially labor reproduction.

The goal of the reform of the socialist market economic system and economic growth mode has pointed out the direction for the social security reform in China. The social security system is one of the five pillars of the socialist market economic system, and gradually establishing and perfecting the new social security is of great significance to China's economic and social reform, development and stability.

First of all, the establishment of social security is the inherent requirement of China's system transition and market economy development. China is in a critical period of system transition, and it is also a period of frequent social and economic contradictions. Whether the current system transition can be successfully realized depends largely on whether a relatively perfect social security system can be established. The goal of China's economic transformation is to establish a new market economy system. On the premise of giving full play to the role of market mechanism, we should also fully estimate the impact and negative impact of market regulation on social and economic life. Although market economy can promote the optimal allocation of resources and improve economic efficiency, it also has its own weaknesses such as blindness, spontaneity and lag. The market economy will not spontaneously pursue fairness and protect workers who are in a weak position because of old age, disability, illness and unemployment. On the contrary, it may increase the income gap of workers and induce social instability. At the same time, the market economy also has the characteristics of periodicity and risk, and relying solely on market regulation will inevitably cause periodic oscillation of social economy, thus causing damage to social productivity. Therefore, the state's macro-control of the economy is particularly important, and the social security system is an important policy tool for the government to regulate economic relations and social relations. Social security is an indispensable part of market economy, which has the inherent functions of fair distribution, stabilizer and shock absorber. Judging from the practice of China's current economic operation, there are many problems to be solved in the system transition, but the most crucial thing is to deepen the reform in the micro field and establish a modern enterprise system, which is the basic problem related to the establishment of a market economy. At present, the common problems encountered by state-owned enterprises are redundant staff, many retirees and heavy social burden, which has become a major constraint factor affecting the establishment of a modern enterprise system. Therefore, it is urgent to establish and improve the social security system and create a good macro-external environment for enterprise reform and competition. Without this guarantee, the reform of state-owned enterprises will be difficult, and the mechanism of survival of the fittest will be difficult to form, which will eventually restrict the process of economic marketization.

Second, the establishment of social security system is an objective need to realize the long-term sustainable development of China's economy and society. Large population is the basic national condition of our country, and it is also a basic starting point for us to consider social and economic development. In the future, with the sudden increase of population, a series of new topics have been put forward for the macro-decision-making of the country. At the same time, it is increasingly urgent to establish and improve the social security system. First of all, judging from the total number of person-days, China's population has exceeded1200 million in/995. Although the natural population growth rate has dropped to about 1 1%, the annual net population increase will still be as high as1400-150,000 due to the large population base. It is predicted that by 20 10, China's population will reach about1400 million, and may exceed1600 million in 2030. The huge population is a heavy burden to the sustainable development of the economy, which brings great pressure to meet people's basic needs such as food, clothing, housing and transportation and to improve employment, education, medical care, welfare and living standards. This objectively requires that social security, as an important part of social development, is closely related to people's survival and life, and must be considered simultaneously in the process of accelerating economic growth in the medium and long term. Only in this way can the long-term stable and coordinated development of social economy have a reliable foundation. Secondly, with the growth of the total population, the problem of population aging has become increasingly prominent. According to the prediction of relevant experts, the proportion of elderly people over 65 in China will rise from 5.6% in 1990 to 6.9% in 2000, 10.6% in 2020 and 17.4% at the peak in 2040, with a fast aging speed and a high proportion (far higher than the world average trend) The rapid increase of the aged population will bring a series of problems to the economic and social development, which requires that from now on, a part of the funds from the total social and economic output and the total income of residents will be used as the accumulation sum.

Reserve, to provide protection for the increasing elderly population in the future. Thirdly, the future employment situation of China's labor force is quite grim. Due to the huge population base and high proportion of working-age population in China, the current and future employment situation of labor force is not optimistic. 1997 The registered unemployment rate was 3. L%, excluding more than 6.3 million laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises. Although10.25 billion surplus labor force in rural areas has turned to non-agricultural industries, there are still a considerable number of potential surplus labor force stranded in agriculture. Judging from the future trend, the working-age population will increase by about 40 million during the Ninth Five-Year Plan period. With the deepening of reform, there are still about 20 million surplus employees and bankrupt employees; About10.2 billion surplus labor force in rural areas needs to be transferred to non-agricultural industries; The government should change its functions, streamline its institutions and lay off employees on a large scale. The fundamental way to relieve employment pressure is to develop economy and expand employment, but the establishment of social security is undoubtedly an important link. We should also see that the next 15 is an important period of China's reform and development, and it is also a period of great changes in residents' income and consumption structure. With the transition from low-income stage to middle-income stage in China, the life of residents will be moderate.

When people are well-off, the quality of life will be greatly improved, and the requirements for old-age care, medical care, health care and social welfare are increasing day by day, which requires the establishment of a relatively perfect social security system. In short, from the future trend analysis, the establishment of social security is not only an objective requirement for the long-term stable development of social economy, but also an important embodiment of social civilization and progress, and an inevitable result of the development of productive forces.

(c) Social security and financial management

Under the condition of socialist market economy, social security is an activity that the government participates in the distribution and redistribution of national income as the main body, and it is also an important tool for the government to adjust the economy and society. Finance is the basic means for the government to organize and adjust the distribution of national income. It is not only the general person in charge of government financial allocation, but also undertakes the main macroeconomic management and regulation functions. Finance and social security are inextricably linked. Whether in theory or in the practice of various countries, financial participation in social security management is necessary.

1. Actively participating in social security management should be the basic responsibility of finance.

First of all, the subject of social security distribution is the same as the subject of financial distribution, both of which have mandatory characteristics; From the source of funds, social security funds can be raised through various channels, but in essence they can only come from national income, so they are the same as the objects of financial allocation. We know that Marx's "six deductions" theory of social product distribution is socialist financial distribution.

Theoretical basis and objective basis, and at least five of the "six deductions" belong to the financial distribution content with the state as the main body, and three of them are the basic contents of social security distribution. Therefore, in a broad sense, social security distribution should be an important part of government financial distribution, and the financial management of social security revenue and expenditure is the embodiment of Marxist financial view.

Secondly, from the reality, the position of finance in the national economy determines that it must participate in the management of social security. Under the condition of socialist market economy, finance is the most important macro-control and financial management function department of the government, which shoulders the mission of managing, regulating and supervising various social funds. Part of the funds needed for social security comes from direct financial allocation, and the other part is special funds with specific purposes, which has a great impact on the national economy and directly impacts the balance of total social supply and demand. Therefore, we should strengthen the financial management, supervision and guidance of this part of the funds.

Third, the social security revenue and expenditure has a great influence on the fiscal revenue and expenditure, which has both the realistic cross-relationship of funds and the potential threat that the security fund cannot make ends meet. The overall security status of finance objectively requires it to participate in the management of social security. In addition to the huge social security revenue and expenditure flow, financial control is also needed. Because social security income can't meet the expenditure, it must be covered by government finance. Therefore, it is impossible for finance to operate normally and healthily without participating in the management and supervision of social security funds. Only by actively participating in social security management, strengthening budget constraints and financial management of security funds, and changing ex post participation into ex post participation, can we manage social security well, make good use of social security funds and promote the benign operation of finance itself.

Finally, strengthening the financial management of social security is an objective requirement for establishing and perfecting an effective supervision and restriction mechanism. The amount of social security funds is huge, which is related to the vital interests of the general public. The management requirements are particularly strict to ensure that the funds are truly earmarked. By actively participating in social security management, clarifying the division of responsibilities of various departments, establishing a mechanism of mutual cooperation and mutual restraint among departments, fundamentally avoiding the lack of transparency in the management system in which a department manages both policies and funds, both financing and payment, making mutual supervision and restraint between departments (units) run through the whole process of fund revenue and expenditure management, realizing the organic combination of pre-control, in-process supervision and post-inspection, and ensuring the rational and effective use of funds.

2. From the practice of social security in various countries, finance always participates in social security management.

Financial participation in social security management includes two levels. First of all, by formulating various macro-financial policies,

Control or influence the scale and structure of social security funds, and participate in daily specific financial management activities such as raising, allocating, managing and supervising social security funds. Due to the differences of political and economic systems and social security financing models in different countries, the degree and scope of financial participation in social security management are not consistent. To sum up, the main forms of financial participation in social security management in various countries are:

(1) Tax incentives. Governments all over the world generally give certain preferential tax treatment to units and individuals who fulfill their social security payment obligations. For example, many countries stipulate that the insurance premiums paid are allowed to be deducted from the personal income tax base and the corporate income tax base, and many countries exempt the occupational annuity and annuity investment income paid by employers from income tax and capital gains tax.

(2) revenue and expenditure management. Governments of all countries are directly or indirectly involved in the management of social security revenue and expenditure.

The funds for social security such as social assistance, social welfare, special care and resettlement are mainly borne by finance, so the direct financial management runs through the whole process of fund income, expenditure and use supervision. The financial management mode of social insurance revenue and expenditure generally depends on its financing mode. In all countries that raise funds through taxes or equivalent taxes, finance directly participates in the management of social security revenue and expenditure, and organizing and managing social security revenue and expenditure has become a regular work of financial departments (such as the United States). In countries that implement payment system, finance generally does not directly participate in the management of social security revenue and expenditure, but participates in the formulation of relevant social security systems and policies and provides financial subsidies (such as Germany, Japan, France and other countries). In countries with compulsory savings system, although finance does not directly participate in the management of social security funds, most of the fund balance needs to buy government bonds. Once there is a deficit, finance must provide the final economic security, such as Singapore, Chile and other countries with compulsory savings system.

(3) Budget management. From the practice of various countries, there are three kinds of budget management of social security funds: one is to directly incorporate the income and expenditure of social security funds into the government budget. For example, the income and expenditure of social security in the United States and Britain are included in the government budget, but they remain relatively independent in the budget. Second, social security revenue and expenditure should be included in the government's special budget management, highlighting earmarking, and maintaining a balance of revenue and expenditure as much as possible (such as Japan). Third, social insurance revenue and expenditure is managed separately as an extra-budgetary item of the government. For example, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Canada all manage the income and expenditure of social insurance for the elderly outside the government budget.

(4) Financial assistance. Almost all countries that have established a social security system cannot do without the government's regular or irregular loss subsidies to make up for the lack of social security income. In addition to social assistance, social welfare and other projects because there is no special source of income, they must be supported by government financial allocation, and social insurance often gives appropriate subsidies when necessary.

(5) Financial management and supervision. While establishing social security systems, various countries have established various financial accounting systems to strengthen the financial management and accounting of social security funds. The International Accounting Standards Board also issued special accounting standards such as "Pension Accounting in Employers' Financial Statements" and "Accounting and Reporting of Pension Plans", which made special provisions on financial accounting and analysis of social security. Now many countries have established or adjusted the social security financial accounting system according to these two standards.

(6) Management of surplus funds. Many countries stipulate that the balance of social security funds can only be purchased.

Treasury bonds may be deposited in banks with preferential interest rates, but some countries allow the purchase of funds, stocks or corporate bonds recognized by government departments to ensure higher returns at low risks. To sum up, it is the general trend to establish and improve the social security system under the socialist market economy and limit the purchase quota, which has increasingly become an important factor affecting economic reform and development. Finance is the main department responsible for the distribution and redistribution of national income, and financial distribution plays a very important role in the establishment of social security system.

Second, the international comparative analysis of social security financing model

The so-called social security financing mode refers to the basic methods and ways to raise social security funds. Although the financing mode of social security is mainly to solve the problem of raising social security funds, it is not just a financing problem, because what kind of financing mode often determines what kind of social security fund management and payment method is adopted, and even determines the operation process of the whole social security system. Therefore, the choice of social security financing mode is the key issue to construct the whole social security system.

(-) Classification of social security financing modes

According to different standards, social security financing models can be classified in different ways. There are two common classifications.

Simply according to the financing methods, we can divide social security financing in the world into three categories: tax system, payment system and savings system. The tax payment system is a mode of raising social security funds by collecting social security taxes (or similar taxes). Judging from the current situation of countries that implement the individual tax payment system, there are various forms of taxation, some of which specifically levy social security tax, some of which call social security tax other taxes (salary increase for tax), and some of which raise social security funds by collecting personal income tax and other taxes. France, for example, devotes the income from tobacco and alcohol taxes and medical advertising taxes to social security. The biggest difference between social security tax and other taxes is that tax payment is directly linked to welfare. Payment system is a financing method for enterprises and individuals to pay social security funds according to the prescribed insurance rate. The payment system is divided into individual voluntary payment and statutory payment. The former is generally not mandatory, but the latter has the mandatory characteristics of social security tax. Compared with the tax payment system, the payment system is scattered in the fund raising and management institutions. The savings system is also called the pre-fund system or the personal account system, that is, the government sets a unified rate through legislation, and deposits the social security fees paid by enterprises and individuals into personal accounts in a unified way, and withdraws them from personal accounts when necessary. This model can be regarded as a special form of payment system, but it is very different from payment system. It financialized social security and strengthened the interests of participants, and the ownership of funds in personal accounts belonged to the participants themselves.

Another classification method is based on the principle of horizontal or vertical balance of social security funds, and social security financing models in various countries can also be divided into three categories: pay-as-you-go system, complete accumulation system and partial accumulation system. Pay-as-you-go system is a financing model based on the principle of recent horizontal balance, which requires that the total amount of social security funds paid in the current year or in recent years be basically balanced in the collection process. The advantages of this model are simple and easy to operate, which can adjust the collection rate in time, keep the balance of payments, and avoid the depreciation of funds caused by rising prices; The disadvantage is the lack of long-term planning, leaving no necessary accumulation. With the change of social member structure and the growth of demand level, the proportion of withdrawal will continue to rise, which will easily increase the burden on all parties and even trigger a payment crisis. Based on the principle of long-term vertical balance, the complete accumulation system requires workers to accumulate and raise social security funds through savings during the whole employment or insurance period, or in a long planned period. Its advantages are that it can disperse labor risks in a long period of time, with stable rates and stable sources of funds; The disadvantage is that it is easy to be influenced by inflation, and it is difficult to predict and manage the social security expenses accurately. Moreover, because the implementation time span is too long, it will face the contradiction of rising prices, living index and fund depreciation. Partial accumulation system, also known as mixed system, comprehensively considers the principles of horizontal balance and vertical balance, and requires some funds to adopt pay-as-you-go system to meet the current expenditure demand, while others adopt accumulation system to meet the growing expenditure demand in the future. Because this model has the advantages of the first two models, it is accepted and adopted by more and more countries.

It should be emphasized that the above two social security financing models are not independent, but cross and compatible with each other. For example, taxes or payments can take the form of pay-as-you-go system or accumulation system. The second classification method actually considers the collection and use of social security funds, so strictly speaking, it does not only refer to the "financing" model, but it may be more appropriate to call it "social security model". In this paper, the "financing method" of social security only refers to the classification according to the first method.

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