Why should state-owned assets be transferred to the social security decision-making level to fill the social security gap?

Lou Jiwei: Only by allocating state-owned assets can the social security rate be reduced.

Following the public support for the "nominal account" of old-age insurance bookkeeping at the end of last year, on March 22nd, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei once again made a public statement on "allocating state-owned assets to supplement the social security fund". This shows that the old-age insurance system in China has reached the moment when fundamental changes must be made in system design and financial arrangements.

Lou Jiwei said at the "China Development Forum" that only by allocating some state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund can the social insurance rate be reduced in a timely manner. If there is no allocation of state-owned assets to fill the "gap", there is no condition to reduce the rate.

In fact, the allocation of state-owned assets to supplement social security funds has formed a certain understanding in both academic circles and decision-making levels, and it has also been written into the communique of the Third Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee, but it is in a situation of "only hearing the sound of stairs, but not seeing people coming down". This time, the Minister of Finance has made such an open and direct statement, and I wonder whether this reform can be promoted as soon as possible.

In the case that it is unrealistic to raise the rate and expand the coverage, facing the imbalance of income and expenditure faced by the old-age insurance in the future, the government actually has only two choices: one is to allocate state-owned assets to supplement, and the other is to continue to rely on financial cash subsidies.

Lou Jiwei obviously disapproves of the latter. He said that to strengthen personal responsibility, a system that can be actuarially balanced should be established. We should not leave the gap entirely to public finances, but actually to other taxpayers. Otherwise, it will not only be unfair, but also bring about an unsustainable crisis in public finance and state governance.

It seems to be the only choice to allocate state-owned assets to supplement the social security fund. However, this road has been ill-fated since 17.

The discussion on the allocation of state-owned assets to supplement social security funds began at the beginning of the establishment of China's unified account system in 1997, and economists such as Wu Jinglian made suggestions to the Central Committee many times. But this reform has been at a standstill. 20 13 years, although written into the report of the third plenary session, but the relevant implementation plan has not yet been seen.

In the meantime, although the plan of reducing the state-owned shares and increasing the social security fund was introduced in 2009, according to the data released by the National Social Security Fund, the annual amount is only several billion yuan, which is only a drop in the bucket compared with the invisible debt of pensions.

Lou Jiwei explained in detail the reasons why state-owned assets should supplement the social security fund. 1997 before the establishment of the old-age insurance system in China, state-owned enterprises and employees did not pay the old-age insurance, and these employees were regarded as the contributions of the new old-age insurance system, which caused future generations to increase the contribution rate to make up for the gap caused by the old people's failure to pay.

Lou Jiwei believes that before 1997, employees did not pay endowment insurance, which actually made the cost of enterprises unreal, expanded the capital accumulation of state-owned enterprises and expanded the income of state finance. At the same time, before 1997, a large amount of state budget was invested in state-owned enterprises. From these two channels, a huge amount of state-owned assets have been created.

"The allocation of some state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund is and should only be aimed at the pension insurance gap caused by the same payment." Lou Jiwei said.

Regarding the issue of reducing the pension insurance rate, Lou Jiwei said frankly that on the basis of "allocating some state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund", it is possible to reduce the social insurance rate in a timely manner. If there is no allocation to make up the gap, there is no condition to reduce the rate.

The most criticized part of the current social security system is that the total rate exceeds 40%. Among them, the employer accounts for the bulk and has to bear 30%. The social security burden of enterprises is heavy, and complaints abound. This year's government work report proposes to reduce the payment rates of unemployment insurance and industrial injury insurance. Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security Minister Yin Weimin made it clear that the pension rate will not be lowered this year.

Yang Yansui, director of Tsinghua University Employment and Social Security Research Center, said in an interview with the reporter of "China Business News" that at the moment when the supply of the labor market is declining and the labor cost is rising sharply, lowering the social security rate has become an important breakthrough to reduce the cost of enterprises, but once it is lowered, it will face the imbalance of fund income and expenditure and become a dilemma.

Why should the decision-makers allocate state-owned assets to fill the social security gap?

"The social security issue is originally a public finance issue. Everyone has the obligation to pay social security, but it is' wide coverage and low level'." Nie Riming, a researcher at Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, pointed out that public finance is to ensure the basic social insurance level for all, not to make up for historical loopholes.

In his view, the gap in today's social security system is the historical debt when state-owned enterprises are restructured. "Transferring state-owned assets to supplement the social security fund is actually paying off debts."

"State-owned assets have grown from hundreds of millions at the beginning to hundreds of trillions today, some of which come from people's resources, and the other part comes from the' old people (retired workers)' labor force dedicated to state-owned enterprises." Hu, an associate professor at the Law and Economic Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that state-owned enterprises did not pay for this group of "old people" at that time, and part of their capital accumulation was based on the "debt" of employee pension insurance. Now they should take out some assets as a reward for their pension.

Hu believes that on the one hand, the allocation of state-owned assets is to solve the debts owed by state-owned enterprises as "regarded as annual fees", and the far-reaching significance is to reduce the burden on young people.

At present, the sum of the five social insurance statutory contributions in China is equivalent to 40% of the wage level, and even reaches 50% in some areas. He said, "Young people should not only accumulate their own pensions (personal accounts), but also pay for the pensions of the elderly (social pooling). In fact, they have to bear the burden of two generations. 1997, 28% of the payment is based on the gap, so the on-the-job employees pay 3%-5% more, but there is still a gap. "

According to "265438+20th Century Business Herald", the question of where trillions of social security funds come from has reached a * * * understanding at the decision-making level.

Lou Jiwei, Minister of Finance, said at the "China Development Forum 20 15" on March 22 that the social security gap cannot be completely left to public finance, and some state-owned assets should be allocated to supplement the social insurance fund.

Experts interviewed by the reporter agreed that it is a very correct move to allocate state-owned assets to supplement the social security gap during the reform of state-owned enterprises, which is not only conducive to forcing the reform of state-owned enterprises, but also a symptomatic solution to the cost of restructuring the "elderly".

"The allocation of some state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund is aimed at the pension insurance gap caused by the same payment, which makes it possible to reduce the social insurance rate in a timely manner on this basis," Lou Jiwei said. This task has a long way to go. "But China's population is aging rapidly, and time waits for no one. We must hurry."

Original intention: to pay the "old man" historical debts.

During the two sessions this year, Hu Xiaoyi, deputy director of Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, once said that in order to ensure the balance of social security payments, "in addition to the current unit contributions, individual contributions and financial subsidies, new financing channels will be further expanded." However, there is no clear statement about what financing channels to adopt.

This time, Lou Jiwei stated that the allocation of state-owned assets to open source seems to mean the initial realization of * * *.

Lou Jiwei emphasized at the meeting that people often think that social insurance is an attribute of public finance. "First of all, social insurance is an insurance attribute. It should be emphasized that actuarial balance must be adhered to."

"The social security issue is originally a public finance issue. Everyone has the obligation to pay social security, but it is' wide coverage and low level'." Nie Riming, a researcher at Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, pointed out that public finance is to ensure the basic social insurance level for all, not to make up for historical loopholes.

In his view, the gap in today's social security system is the historical debt when state-owned enterprises are restructured. "Transferring state-owned assets to supplement the social security fund is actually paying off debts."

"State-owned assets have grown from hundreds of millions at the beginning to hundreds of trillions today, some of which come from people's resources, and the other part comes from the' old people (retired workers)' labor force dedicated to state-owned enterprises." Hu, an associate professor at the Law and Economic Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that state-owned enterprises did not pay for this group of "old people" at that time, and part of their capital accumulation was based on the "debt" of employee pension insurance. Now they should take out some assets as a reward for their pension.

Hu believes that on the one hand, the allocation of state-owned assets is to solve the debts owed by state-owned enterprises as "regarded as annual fees", and the far-reaching significance is to reduce the burden on young people.

At present, the sum of the five social insurance statutory contributions in China is equivalent to 40% of the wage level, and even reaches 50% in some areas. He said, "Young people should not only accumulate their own pensions (personal accounts), but also pay for the pensions of the elderly (social pooling). In fact, they have to bear the burden of two generations. 1997, 28% of the payment is based on the gap, so the on-the-job employees pay 3%-5% more, but there is still a gap. "

Mode: or through equity transfer

In fact, the practice of allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds has been put into practice at the local government level. As a supporting measure for the reform of state-owned enterprises, the Shandong Provincial Government recently issued the Notice on the Scheme of Transferring State-owned Capital of Provincial Enterprises to Enrich the Social Security Fund, demanding that "30% of the state-owned capital of provincial state-owned enterprises (including the state-owned capital of state-controlled shareholding enterprises) be transferred to enrich the provincial social security fund".

In the opinion of social security experts, how to supplement the social security fund with state-owned capital is the key to solve the problem.

In 20 12, Dai Xianglong, then chairman of the National Social Security Fund Council, publicly stated that there are three ways to transfer state-owned assets to enrich the National Social Security Fund: First, improve the existing system of transferring 10% of shares or raised funds to the National Social Security Fund when state-owned enterprises go public, and take this management method formulated by relevant departments in the State Council as a special regulation in the State Council. Second, the profits of state-owned enterprises supervised by the State Council State Weibo shall be turned over to the National Social Security Fund at a rate of not less than 20%. Third, if necessary, transfer part of the shares of central enterprises (including financial enterprises) with a high proportion of state holdings to the National Social Security Fund.

Hu, an associate professor at the Center for Law and Economic Research of China University of Political Science and Law, is a supporter of this measure. He called for the allocation of state-owned shares to enrich the social security fund more than 10 years ago. In the above three ways, he and Nie Riming both hold the same view, and allocating state-owned shares is the most stable and efficient way. "Allocate 20% of existing state-owned shares to supplement the social security fund, and 10% of newly listed shares is not enough to make up for the gap." Hu Xiangjian suggested.

Hu said that China's current operating state-owned assets amount to more than 50 trillion yuan, and the World Bank [Weibo] estimated that China's pension gap is about 8 trillion to 10 trillion. "If you allocate 20%, you can basically make up for the gap, and when the fund enters the stock market, it can avoid the depreciation of the fund, thus establishing a virtuous circle."

"There is uncertainty in the profits of state-owned enterprises. Realizing state-owned assets is actually a blow to the stock market, which is a stupid practice. " He emphasized that the Interim Measures for the Administration of Reducing State-owned Shares to Raise Social Security Funds promulgated in June 2006 is a lesson from the past. At that time, the reduction of state-owned shares was required as a new financing channel for pension funds, but after the policy was promulgated, it was strongly rebounded by the securities market.