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2010-7-5 01:42
China's income tax system is coming under growing scrutiny from academics and other commentators worried about the country's widening wealth gap.
In the latest example, a senior official at the government-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences wrote in an essay this week that the government should 'steal from the rich and give to the poor' to improve income distribution. Writing on the website of the Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper, the author--described only as the deputy director of the CASS Institute of Finance and Trade--argues that personal income tax must be the 'point of attack' to rectify income inequality. The deputy director advocates 'adjustment' of the personal income tax rate to attack wealth disparity. In other words, a more progressive income tax. The official also wants to improve collection and management of the tax, and to close existing tax loopholes. Income tax in China is already nominally more progressive than in most countries, with the top marginal rate around 45%, compared to 35% in the U.S. However, China has serious problems with collection--getting people to actually pay income taxes is a huge headache for the government. According to state media, Li Yining, a senior economist at Peking University, is also calling for a reworking of the personal income tax as part of a new package of reforms to alleviate worsening inequality. First the market should distribute wealth, then the government, then the people, Li explains. Li wants the government to fix the market's unequal distribution of wealth by raising the minimum wage and by making charitable donations tax-free. Meanwhile, in the past month, both the State Administration of Taxation and the State Council have suggested reforms of the personal income tax. The government is in the midst of a major campaign to address the wealth gap, and the tax system is at the top of the agenda. Still, it's unclear what kind of changes might come out of this discussion. The issue of what role the government can play to alleviate the economic inequality created by China's three-decade-long market-oriented reform program is fraught with tension. In the past, income disparity would be solved with direct government manipulation. Now, more consideration is paid to whether the government's actions accord with realistic market principles. Being practical is the order of the day. 中国的所得税体制正受到学术界人士越来越多的审查,并且其他评论人士对中国正在加剧的贫富差距感到担忧。
Universal/Everett Collection电影《罗宾汉》剧照。最新的例子是:本周,中国社科院的一名高级官员在中共党报《人民日报》网站上撰文道,政府需要“劫富济贫”以改善收入分配不均的情况。作者仅显示为中国社科院财贸研究所副所长。他说必须以个人所得税作为“突破口”纠正收入不均的现象。 作者提倡调整个人所得税率以打击贫富悬殊的问题,也就是强度更大的累进所得税制。这名官员还希望加强个人所得税的征管并堵住现有的税收漏洞。 中国的个人所得税名义上已经比大多数其它国家的累进强度更大,最高边际税率达45%左右,而美国仅为35%。然而,中国在征收方面有着严重的问题,让人们真正支付个人所得税是让政府极为头疼的难题。 据中国官方媒体称,北京大学高级经济学家厉以宁也呼吁把个人所得税调整作为缓解不断恶化的贫富不均现象的一揽子改革措施的一部分。厉以宁解释说,首先应由市场分配财富,其次是政府,最后是个人。他希望政府通过提高最低工资标准并使慈善捐款免税以解决市场对财富的分配不平等的问题。 与此同时,上个月,国家税务总局和国务院均建议对个人所得税进行改革。政府正在大力解决贫富差距的问题,税收制度是改革重中之重。 尽管如此,目前尚不清楚这种讨论会带来什么样的变化。中国30年的市场化改革计划造成了经济不平等的现象,对政府在减轻这种不平等现象方面能承担什么样角色这一问题充满了争议。过去,政府可通过直接操控的手段解决收入不均的问题。现在人们更多考虑的是政府的行为是否符合实际可行的市场原则。当前崇尚的是务实。 |