中国收入再分配政策的演进趋势与效应评估

Evolutionary Trends and Effect Assessment of China’s Income Redistribution Policies

本文回顾了改革开放以来中国收入再分配政策的演进趋势,基于1988—2018年六轮CHIP调查数据,运用收入再分配效应分解方法,从政策规模和累进性等角度研究了以个人所得税、社会保障支出为代表的收入再分配政策的总效应和分解效应。研究发现,中国收入再分配政策具有显著缩小居民收入差距的作用,且这种改善收入分配的作用在三十多年间持续增强。特别是随着农村社会保障网络覆盖范围和政府转移支付规模的逐步扩大,政策累进性日益提升,收入再分配政策发挥着越来越重要的收入再分配作用。本文为深入理解中国收入再分配制度的发展历程、提高收入再分配政策的针对性和有效性提供了重要参考。

Income redistribution policies are crucial institutional arrangements for promoting fair income distribution,enhancing public welfare,and maintaining social harmony and stability.Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC),China’s income redistribution system has been increasingly perfected.Social security investments have continuously intensified,with a rising proportion of social security expenditures in total fiscal expenditures,expanding coverage and steadily improving resident benefits.The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC emphasized the need to enhance the regulatory intensity of taxes,social security,and transfer payments,improve the personal income tax system,and standardize the order of income distribution.These measures are pivotal in reforming the redistribution adjustment mechanism and addressing problems of unbalanced and inadequate development,reflect the people⁃centered governance philosophy,and are essential in narrowing income disparities and achieving common prosperity for all.This paper focuses on significant historical periods such as the reform and opening⁃up,the beginning of the new century,and the period following the 18th National Congress of the CPC.It comprehensively reviews the evolution of China’s main income redistribution policies,particularly emphasizing the expansion and popularization of the social security network and the establishment and refinement of the personal income tax system.Utilizing data from six rounds of the CHIP surveys from 1988 to 2018,this paper calculates and decomposes the redistribution effect index to explore the impact of income redistribution policies,represented by social security expenditures and personal income taxes,on the income distribution of Chinese residents.This paper finds that over the past 30 years,the redistributive impact of China’s policies has gradually strengthened.Notably,as the coverage and expenditure of rural social security networks expand,the progressivity of policies has increased,playing an increasingly significant role in redistribution.Compared with personal income taxes,government transfer payments represented by social security have a more pronounced effect on improving income inequality,indicating that the redistributive effect of transfer payments far exceeds that of taxation.To further enhance the role of redistribution policies in reducing income disparities and promoting social equity,this paper proposes the following policy suggestions.First,we should continue to increase social security investments and enhance the universality of the social security network.Second,we should optimize the distribution structure of social security expenditures to further strengthen support for low⁃income groups and enhance policy progressivity.Third,we should establish a sustainable growth mechanism for the basic pension benefits of urban and rural residents that matches the level of economic development,steadily increase the social security standards for rural residents,and narrow the gap in social security benefits between urban and rural residents.