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.

Status, trends and enlightenment of global oil and gas development in 2021

By analyzing the distribution of global oil and gas fields and the reasons why some oil and gas fields are not in production, the distribution characteristics of oil and gas remaining recoverable reserves and their year-on-year changes, the distribution characteristics of oil and gas production and their year-on-year changes, and the development potential of oil and gas to be tapped in 2021, this paper sorts out systematically the current status and characteristics of global oil and gas development, summaries the major trends of global oil and gas development, puts forward enlightenment for international oil and gas cooperation. In 2021, oil and gas fields were widely distributed, the number of non-producing oil and gas fields was large;the whole oil and gas remaining recoverable reserves declined slightly, unconventional oil and gas remaining recoverable reserves dropped significantly;the overall oil and gas production continuously increased, the outputs of key resource-host countries kept year-on-year growth;undeveloped oilfields had abundant reserves and great development potential. Combined with global oil and gas geopolitics, oil and gas industry development trends, oil and gas investment intensity, and the tracking and judgment of hotspot fields, the major trends of global oil and gas development in 2021 are summarized. On this basis, the four aspects of enlightenment and suggestions for international oil and gas cooperation and development strategies are put forward: attach great importance to the obligation of marine abandonment to ensure high-quality and long-term benefit development of offshore oil and gas;adhere to the principle of not going to dangerous and chaotic places, strengthen the concentration of oil and gas assets, and establish multi stable supply bases;based on the multi-scenario demand of natural gas, realize the transformation from integrated collaboration to full oil and gas industry chain development;increase the acquisition of high-quality large-scale assets, and pay attention to the continuous optimization of the shareholding ratio of projects at different stages.

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.

Consumption Tax Reform in Accelerating the Establishment of a New Development Paradigm

Accelerating the establishment of a new development paradigm in which domestic and overseas markets reinforce each other,with the domestic market as the mainstay,has posed new requirements for deepening the consumption tax reform.Therefore,we need to focus on accelerating the establishment of a new development paradigm,combined with the establishment of a modern fiscal and tax system and tax attributes,and make effective institutional arrangements for comprehensively promoting consumption,expanding domestic demand and then forming a strong domestic market.It is meaningful to reduce tax on consumer goods involved in upgrading consumption to meet people’s needs for a better life and to raise tax on high energy-consuming,highly polluting and unhealthy consumer goods to enhance the regulatory role of consumption tax and to promote the overall optimization and upgrading of the industrial structure.The revenue of consumption tax on key tax items(categories)should belong to the central government to facilitate the smooth flow of the economic circulation.

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.