Forbes Said China'S Global Tax Burden Was Questioned Second.

"Forbes" was launched in 2009.

According to the people's daily, Forbes's "tax misery index" is less scientific and does not reflect the real situation.

The reason is that there are many defects in this calculation method, including nominal tax rate is not equal to the actual tax rate, and the maximum marginal tax rate is very small.

The people's daily also cited the Chinese Statistical Yearbook 2010, the report on the implementation of the central and local budgets in 2009, the draft report on the central and local budgets in 2009, the Ministry of Finance website, IMF website and OECD website, and interviewed experts such as Zhang Bin, director of the Tax Research Office of the Institute of Finance and trade of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointing out that the tax burden of China is not high by international standard "macro tax burden".

In the afternoon, Zhou Jiangong, editor in chief of the Chinese version of Forbes, responded to the article one by one.

In an interview with our newspaper reporter yesterday, Zhou Jiangong stressed that "the purpose of this list is to find a comparable scale between the tax burden of all countries in the world. Therefore, the tax categories and the highest tax rates adopted by governments are equally selected for all sample countries."

Related disputes also immediately aroused widespread concern, many experts said that the Ministry of Finance recently released data show that the first 8 months of the country

Jia Kang, director of the Financial Science Research Institute of the Ministry of finance, thinks that structural tax cuts should be made. He pointed out that structural tax cuts should be made, and tax concessions for small businesses and enterprises should be given tax concessions as much as possible. At the same time, structural tax increases should also be made. The most typical one is resource tax. In addition, specific taxes should also be increased or reduced.

Focus 1

Composition of tax burden index

Forbes's tax burden index is calculated by the highest statutory provisions of corporate income tax, personal income tax, property tax, employer social insurance, employee social insurance and value added tax (or sales tax).

It is argued that the statistical method has several major defects in reflecting the tax burden. First, the nominal tax rate chosen by the index is not equivalent to the actual tax rate, and the actual tax rate is often lower than the nominal tax rate.

Two, the highest marginal tax rate applies only to a small proportion of taxpayers, which can not reflect the overall tax burden of a country's residents.

Three, the premise of simple addition is to give each tax the same weight, which is quite different from the actual situation.

According to Forbes, the tax system of a country is very complicated. In such a complex situation, international comparisons must always be made in comparison with the commonalities in the world, and the principle of consistency must be maintained and there is a deficiency, but it can not be said to be unscientific.

Focus 2

Statistical burden of tax burden

Some experts point out that there are two kinds of international macro tax burden, one is the statistics of the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD), and the similar index in China is "tax revenue + social insurance contribution income", which accounts for GDP share.

The other is the definition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Government revenue includes four categories: taxation, compulsory social security contributions, donation and other income. China's similar index is the macro tax burden.

Under the two calculation caliber, China's tax burden is lower than that of developed countries such as the US, Japan, Germany and France.

Forbes pointed out that the "tax pain index" contains the taxpayers' actual feelings about the tax burden.

If the government can provide quality and satisfactory public services, it will certainly welcome the people.

But in fact, the actual tax rate in China is lower than the nominal tax rate, but the public service that taxpayers can feel is lacking, and the quality remains to be improved.

Focus 3

Relationship between tax burden and degree of distress

Some experts pointed out that we should not get entangled in the tax burden. We should pay more attention to whether the fiscal expenditure structure is reasonable.

The key to macro tax burden lies not in how much revenue is collected, but on the improvement of budgetary system and the improvement of fiscal expenditure structure.

"When a country's financial expenditure on people's livelihood is relatively small, people often feel that they do not benefit directly from the government's use of tax, and they feel that the tax burden is heavier.

This objectively requires the government to speed up the pformation of the mode of economic development, and constantly improve the structure of fiscal expenditure, improve the efficiency of tax revenue, and maximize the tax to the people and the people.

Forbes believes that the higher the general tax rate is, the more painful the taxpayers are. This is obvious. There is no need to argue.

But it is very reasonable that "the structure of financial expenditure needs to be taken more for civilian use than for the people".

Voice

Ma Guangyuan: tax burden and tax burden are two concepts.

Ma Guangyuan, a doctor of economics and an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said yesterday that tax burden and "tax burden pain" are two concepts.

If the absolute value of a national tax is not the highest, but because the tax expenditure is not related to the people, the pain index is naturally high.

He believes that China's tax burden is generally overweight.

Data show that the fiscal revenue is much higher than the growth rate of GDP and residents' income, and the excessive growth of fiscal revenue will inevitably lead to the rich and the poor.

"The increase in fiscal revenue is certainly related to the rapid development of the economy, but there is no big gap between the state and the people. Before we all eat potatoes, the situation is that the country eats abalone and the people eat a little better potatoes."

In Ma Guangyuan's view, China has not yet become a high-income country, but the macro tax burden has reached the level of high income countries.

There is a view that at present should not be entangled in tax revenue, but should consider adjusting the expenditure structure. For this reason, Ma Guangyuan believes that adjusting the expenditure structure and the excessive growth of fiscal revenue are two independent problems and should not be confused.

"The tax is too high to be wrong. In the initial distribution, the State takes too much, which is unreasonable."

Ma Guangyuan said.

(Li Lei)

Zhou Jiangong: we need a pparent fiscal system.

The list of "tax pain index" is a list launched by Forbes two and a half years ago. Today, however, it triggered a controversy. Zhou Jian believes that the topic is so concerned, because the topic of the original tax reform this year is very hot.

The underlying reason is the awakening of taxpayer awareness.

Zhou Jiangong said, when we pay taxes, we need to pay attention to the tax revenue, whether the government can effectively use and manage the tax revenue, how the government provides the quality of public services, the structure of tax expenditure, and whether the details are pparent.

He believed that the fiscal and taxation system is the core system of a country and embodies the basic values of the government.

The fiscal and taxation system will be fiercely debated in any country. No country's fiscal system will satisfy everyone.

He believes that the key now is to have a pparent, procedural way to express the interests of different interest groups through fiscal and taxation systems.

This is lacking in China.

Stones from other hills

Us speed up tax rises to the rich

The United States is a country with direct tax as the main form, and implements three levels of taxation system in federal, state and local (city and county) levels.

The main existing taxes in the United States include corporate income tax, personal income tax, sales and use tax, inheritance and gift tax, social security tax, property tax, capital or net wealth tax, accumulated surplus tax, consumption tax and so on.

Federal tax is mainly based on personal income tax and social security tax, and has become the main source of federal income.

Data show that in 2008, 45% of US federal income was personal income tax.

In the United States, as long as the person with income has to declare the personal income tax to the federal government every year, it is usually collected by family.

The middle and high income groups are the main tax groups, while the low-income families usually get the tax rebate from the government.

In 2009, 47% of households in the United States enjoyed this preference.

After taking office, former US President George W. Bush paid tax breaks several times, but with the expansion of the deficit.

The incumbent president Obama proposed in the federal budget of 2011 fiscal year February last year that individuals who earn more than 200 thousand dollars a year will abolish the tax reduction measures in the George W. Bush era, while individuals earning less than 200 thousand dollars each year will continue to implement the tax reduction policy.

At present, under the enormous pressure of reducing the deficit, Obama has accelerated the pace of increasing taxes to the rich.

On Monday, local time, Obama announced a new tax increase to raise taxes on the "super rich" who earn more than $1 million a year, to ensure that their tax rate is no less than that of the middle class.