Reforms on China＇s Fiscal System and Its Impact on Local Government Behavior

The fiscal system is an important part of national economic management and deals with the division of financial responsibility and power, regulates and defines the fiscal activities among different levels of governments. The changes in economic system and economic structure decide the changes of fiscal function and fiscal structure, which results in the changes in intergovernmental distribution form and local government behavior. This paper takes a look at the stages of China＇s fiscal reform process and the impacts on local government behavior, and tries to find measures for perfecting the fiscal system reform to optimize local government behavior and guarantee a healthy national economy.

An Assessment of China's New Round of Reform of the Fiscal and Taxation Systems

Based on the Decisions of the CPC Central Committee on Some Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms and the Overall Plan on Deepening Fiscal and Tax Reforms, this paper presents a systematic assessment of the progress of China's new round of fiscal and tax reforms from November 2013 to October 2016 with the following findings. Reform of the budgetary management system has yielded initial results yet remains in the preliminary stage. While progress has been made in reforming indirect taxes, the reform of direct taxes is slow and presents a major obstacle. Despite breakthroughs, the progress of public finance reforms remains slow and impedes reforms on other fronts. Fiscal and tax reforms are uneven and should be implemented in coordination. Fiscal and tax reforms should more vigorously support overall reforms.

China＇s 40 Years of Fiscal and Tax Reform： A Basic Trajectory

The present paper describes the trajectory of China＇s fscal and tax reform in the past 40 years, which can be summarized in five phases. The reform commenced with ＂＇decentralizing power and transferring benefits. ＇＂ Then, under great fiscal pressure, institutional reform was instigated, which aimed to establish a new fiscal and tax system. To regulate the government revenue and expenditure beyond the fiseal and tax system, reforms were put in place to build an institutional framework for public finance. As the fiscal and tax reform had gradually entered the more sophisticated phases, China took a series of measures to further improve the public finance system. Since 2012, based on the overall plan of comprehensively deepening reform, China has embarked on establishing a modern public finance system. The present paper characterizes China＇s fiscal and tax reform as gradually moving toward a system that aligns with the overall reform and complements the goal of marketization and modernization of state governance.

Analysis of the Adjustment of China’s Fiscal Policy in 2005

The prudent fiscal policy adopted in 2005 is the result of adopting a series of measures tostrengthen macro control in recent years. The process of implementation will be gradual.During this period, pushing forward reforms is the main focus of all the measures. Taxreform, social security system reform and rural reform will need the most emphasis.

China’s Fiscal Policy in the Past Seven Decades:Characteristics,Experience and Prospects

The paper reviews the fi scal policies adopted by China in the past 70 years,summarizes their characteristics at different stages and looks into the future fiscal policy options for China.The fiscal policy history since the founding of the People’s Republic of China can be divided into four stages.Stage 1:1949-1952,the market-oriented fi scal policy aiming to restore the national economy;Stage 2:1953-1978,the planned fi scal policy;Stage 3:1978-2012,the fi scal policy accommodating the needs of economic transformation;and Stage 4:2012-present,the fiscal policy accommodating the needs of the new era.A look at the above fiscal policy history draws the following conclusions.(1)The goal of the fiscal policy should be set based on a correct understanding of the role of the state;(2).For the fi scal policy to work,it must respect the fi scal law;(3)The fi scal policy must aim higher than the goal of macroeconomic stability and provide guarantees for industrialization and modernization;(4)The government should understand fi scal defi cits while proactively guarding against fi scal risks;(5)The implementation of the fi scal policy must go hand in hand with the fi scal reform;(6)The funding for the fi scal policy must come from diverse sources;(7)The choice of the fi scal policy should fully consider external impacts.The future fi scal policy should revolve around serving the modernization of china’s governance system and capacity,and serving China’s contribution to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.We should update our knowledge on the fi scal policy to support the decision-making for the choice of fi scal policy.The goal of fi scal policy should be set in coordination with that of other policies.Moreover,from the perspective of the government’s disposable revenue and cash fl ow,the paper probes into the space and challenges for future fi scal policy and sorts the problems of the transmission mechanism that might prevent the fi scal policy from working.

Changes of Fiscal and Financial Capacity in a Reforming China

China finds itself in a dual transitional period forboth its economy and its society with the govern-ment playing key role. The government is obliged tomaintain and reinforce its capacity to mobilize and allo-cate social resources, to maintain a stable developmentof both the economy and society.the paper,concernedwith the source of funds, has divided national capacityinto national fiscal capacity and national financialcapacity.By calculation and analysis of the fiscal ca-pacity and financial capacity,we will explain the role ofthe finance industry as "secondary public finance."

Intergovernmental Vertical Fiscal Relations Reform and Grassroots-Level Government’s Finance Guarantee:Based on Quasi-Natural Experimental Analysis

Grassroots-level government’s financial capability is crucial to the performance of financial functions of the whole country.How to adjust the intergovernmental vertical fiscal relations in order to improve grassroots-level government’s finance situation is important for accelerating the establishment of a modern fiscal system.In recent years,Province-Directly-Governing-County(PGC)fiscal reform has been an important attempt to straighten out vertical fiscal relations between governments,and thus has made it possible for studying the effects of vertical fiscal relations reform on grassroots-level government’s finance based on quasi-natural experimental analysis.Therefore,this article empirically analyzes the PGC fiscal reform based on nationwide county-level data applying Propensity Score Matching with Difference-in-Difference Method(PSM-DID),in order to investigate the effect of the reform on county governments’disposable revenue and identify the influence path.The results indicate that PGC fiscal reform has a significant effect on promoting fiscal disposable revenue of county governments.Furthermore,we find that the reform increased upper-government transfer payment more than county-level own revenue,which manifests the reform increase county governments’fiscal disposable revenue by means of restraining prefecture-level cities’from grabbing county-level transfer.

Challenges and Countermeasures for the Sustainable Development of Local Finance under the Impact of COVID-19

In recent years,the risks and challenges at home and abroad have increased significantly,and the downward pressure on the economy has increased,especially the implementation of larger-scale tax and fee cuts under the proactive fiscal policy,while the rigidity of local fiscal expenditure has not been reduced,and the sustainable development of local finance is facing greater challenges.In particular,the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious impact on the already stressed local finance,which has led to the intensifi ed contradiction between local fiscal revenue and expenditure.This paper analyzes the challenges to the sustainable development of local finance under the impact of COVID-19 from four angles:the greater economic downward pressure combined with larger-scale tax and fee cuts,the fiscal relationship between the central and local governments,land finance,and transfer payment,then puts forward the corresponding policy recommendations.