住房保障的财政成本承担:中央政府还是地方政府?

Who should Pay for Housing Security Programs:The Central Government or Local Governments?

尽管我国住房保障政策自上世纪90年代开始实施,但由于缺乏常规和充足的资金来源,以及明确的中央与地方政策在住房保障中的财政成本承担责任,目前住房保障政策的执行效率与执行效果并不理想,低收入群体住房供给不足的问题日益严重。论文从福利政策理论和住房保障特点的角度出发,对中央与地方政府在住房保障财政成本上所承担的责任进行阐释,并借鉴了美国的经验。研究认为,住房保障是一种社会福利政策,具有收入再分配的功能,根据公共财政理论,住房保障成本应主要由中央政府承担;但同时,住房保障的公共品特征决定了地方政府也应在住房保障中分担部分成本,并负责具体的保障实施工作。我国目前的制度环境制约主要是由地方政府统筹的社会保障体系和城乡二元户籍制度,这意味着将住房保障的主要支出责任从地方政府逐步转移至中央政府需要经历一个渐进的过程。

A serious of housing security programs in China have been launched since 1990s.However,the effects of which were not significant due much to the lack of regular and enough fiscal resources.What remains unclear is who should be responsible for the finance such programs.Should it be the central government,or local governments? By referring to the theories of wefalre state and that of public finance,this paper seeks to answer this question.The state of housing in the US is examined within this theoretical context.It is argued that the central government should play a primary role in financing housing security programs because'housing security'as its stands is a sort of social welfare that is mainly achieved through income redistribution which should coincide with the central government's fiscal as well as social policy agenda that aims at social justice.The fact of which,however, should not prevent local government from sharing part of the cost of such programs, and,more importantly,take up the responsibility of implementation.Nevertheless, institutional restrictions in China,such as the social security system and the household registration system,determine the shift of the fiscal responsibility of housing security programs from local governments to the central government has to be a gradual process.