Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China＇s ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued ...Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China＇s ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued that the issues associated with rural taxation and local governance in China result from inherent tension between an increasingly liberalized economic system and a still centralized political system. Although rural tax reform has helped to reduce farmers＂ tax burdens in the short term, the establishment of an effective local governance regime requires coordinated reforms to downsize local bureaucracy by providing social security for laid-off cadres, to strengthen local accountability by granting higher local formal tax autonomy, and to promote meaningful participation by expanding local democracy.展开更多
基金financial support from the Chinese National Science Foundation(Project 703030l1,70633002)Ford Foundation+1 种基金the Chinese Academy of Science Innovation Project(KSCX2-YW-N.039)the Matching NSFC Fund of the Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resource Research,the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
文摘Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China＇s ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued that the issues associated with rural taxation and local governance in China result from inherent tension between an increasingly liberalized economic system and a still centralized political system. Although rural tax reform has helped to reduce farmers＂ tax burdens in the short term, the establishment of an effective local governance regime requires coordinated reforms to downsize local bureaucracy by providing social security for laid-off cadres, to strengthen local accountability by granting higher local formal tax autonomy, and to promote meaningful participation by expanding local democracy.
