社会安全网的再编织:农村五保供养工作的困境与转型

Reweaving the Social Safety Net:The Difficulties in the Transformation of the"Five Guarantees System"in Rural China

五保供养是中国农村最后一道社会安全网,其功能在于为那些缺乏其他任何社会支持的极端贫困者提供最低生活保障。作为社区福利,其筹资依赖于村提留及乡统筹。税费制度改革取消了村提留和乡统筹,动摇了其筹资基础。五保供养在很多地区(尤其在中西部地区),本身便由于筹资基础不稳固而问题重重;在税制发生变化之后,问题更显突出。然而,税费改革使来自上级政府的转移支付取代了社区筹资,意味着五保工作将从社区福利转型为国家福利。

The so-called 'five guarantees system' is the bottom line in the social safety net that provides minimum livelihood support for the poorest people who cannot get any support from the society.As a community-based welfare scheme,the funds in the system depend on fees collected by villages and funds transferred from the township governments.But the reform of the taxation and fee collection system in the rural areas bans fee collection by villages and fund transfers by townships.This shakes the source of the fundraising basis for the system.The foundation of the system was always very unstable due to the lack of resources,and the recent reform only exacerbated the instability.In addition,the reform replaced the fee collection in the communities with higher-level government fund transfers,meaning that the five guarantee system is transformed from community welfare to state welfare.