On June 4th this year, the website of the Ministry of Finance published the Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning the Transfer of State-owned Land Use Right Income, Mineral Resources Special Income, Sea Area Use Fee and Non-resident Island Use Fee to Tax Authorities. The "Notice" clarifies that all four government non-tax revenues, such as the income from the transfer of state-owned land use rights originally collected by the natural resources department, are transferred to the tax department. And since July 20021,it has been piloted in seven places, including Shanghai.
According to the timetable, the pilot areas that have not yet carried out the collection and management transfer will also fully implement the collection and management transfer from 2022 1.
Then, why should the land transfer income be transferred to the tax authorities for collection? Are there any other related cases in the reform of non-tax revenue collection and management? Will local land finance end? This paper summarizes and interprets the hot issues related to the transfer of land transfer income to tax authorities.
1. What is the background of the tax department reform of land transfer income?
Centralized collection and management system.
2065438+In March 2008, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Plan for Deepening the Reform of the Party and State Institutions. Article 46 of the "Program" clearly puts forward: reform the collection and management system of national tax and local tax. In order to reduce the collection cost, straighten out the responsibility relationship, improve the efficiency of collection and management, and provide taxpayers with better, more efficient and more convenient services, the national tax and local tax agencies below the provincial level will be merged to undertake the collection and management responsibilities of various tax and non-tax revenues within their respective jurisdictions.
From July 2065438 to July 2008, the general offices of the General Office of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the Reform Plan for the Collection and Management System of National Tax and Local Tax, which mentioned that the scope of transferring the non-tax revenue collection and management responsibilities to the tax authorities should be reasonably determined according to the principle of convenience and efficiency, and the non-tax revenue items that are legally reserved and suitable for transfer should be transferred in batches and gradually promoted.
Therefore, the transfer of land transfer income to tax authorities is understood by the industry as: 20 18 merged the reform of national tax and local tax institutions to complete the centralization of tax collection and management system; In 20 19, the centralized collection and management system of non-natural resources income will be completed, including social insurance premiums, state-owned major water conservancy project construction funds, compensation fees for soil and water conservation, and income from the transfer of emission rights, all of which will be collected by the tax authorities; Caizong [202 1] 19 stipulates that in 2022, the transfer of non-tax revenue collection and management responsibilities of natural resources such as land transfer income to tax authorities is the last stroke of centralized collection and management system.
Second, why should the land transfer income be transferred to the tax authorities for collection?
Wang Yongjun, director of the Government Budget Research Center of the Central University of Finance and Economics, believes that the direct purpose is to promote the cost-effectiveness goal, responsibility goal (users are responsible for the compliance and performance of land and resources management) and information transparency of income collection and management. The indirect purpose is to create conditions for rectifying land finance.
The first principle of income collection and management is cost efficiency, that is, collecting income at the lowest cost. In most cases, the centralized mode of tax collection and management is more in line with this principle, especially reducing the compliance cost and management cost. The tax authorities have great advantages in the specialization of tax collection and management, and the level of capital investment is high.
In the principle of responsibility for income collection and management, centralized mode also has comparative advantages. Land users are responsible to the landowners. The owner of state-owned land is the state, and the central government is the agent owner. When the user's use of state-owned land deviates from the owner's concerned goals and interests, the principle of responsibility will be invalid. Centralized mode can better control these behavioral deviations.
Centralized collection and management is conducive to information transparency. Non-tax revenue is mainly distributed in local governments at all levels, and the central government rarely knows it, even if it is huge state-owned land revenue. Decentralized tax collection and management mode enables local governments to maintain one-way transparency of some key information, that is, they are fully informed and the central government is completely unaware. Centralized mode helps to ensure that important information is changed from one-way transparency of local governments to two-way transparency of local and central governments, and also plays a role in risk monitoring.
From an indirect point of view, it also creates conditions for rectifying land finance. The information asymmetry advantage of local governments is potentially harmful, including disguised reduction and exemption of land transfer income, false accounting of land transfer cost expenditure and inflated land transfer cost, failure to turn over land transfer income to the state treasury on time and in full, allowing developers to delay paying cached land transfer income, concealing, falsely reporting and whitewashing statistical data, etc. The essence of these problems is the externality caused by decentralized management mode.
Therefore, after the non-tax revenue is transferred to the tax department, the revenue collection and management system, including land revenue, will achieve comprehensive centralization and two-way transparency of information, which will take a crucial first step for comprehensively rectifying land finance and ensure that the central government can fully and timely grasp the land financial information of local governments.
3. Are there any relevant cases about the reform of non-tax revenue collection and management?
Yes
In fact, there are many reforms in the collection and management of non-tax revenue, and the reform of the right to collect land transfer fees is only one of them.
For example, from 20 19 65438+ 10 1, various social insurance premiums such as basic old-age insurance premium, basic medical insurance premium, unemployment insurance premium, work injury insurance premium and maternity insurance premium will be collected by the tax authorities.
In addition, since 200211,the compensation fee for soil and water conservation, the local reservoir resettlement support fund, the income from emission rights transfer, and the relocation fee for air defense basement have been handed over to the tax authorities for collection. Relevant policies such as the scope of collection, collection objects and collection standards are still implemented according to existing regulations.
In other words, in the past, the right to collect some non-tax revenue items began to shift from other departments to tax departments.
Some contents in the real estate sector have also been included in the reform. For example, in May, 20021year, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China and other five departments issued the Announcement on the Collection and Management of Land Idle Fees and Urban Garbage Disposal Fees. The announcement made it clear that from July 1 20265438, the idle land fees collected by the natural resources departments and the urban garbage disposal fees collected by the housing and urban-rural construction departments and managed according to administrative fees will be handed over to the tax authorities for collection.
Therefore, the reform of the land transfer fee collection right of the Ministry of Finance entrusts the authority to the tax department, which reflects the transformation of the functional system of the state functional organs and helps to enhance the ability of the tax department to uniformly collect and manage tax revenue and non-tax revenue.
Four, the land transfer income is transferred to the tax authorities for collection, and the local land finance ends?
Mistake.
It is an embodiment of centralized collection and management system that land transfer income is turned over to tax authorities.
Centralized expropriation management will not make local governments face the risk of income loss, because it has not changed the ownership and use right of land transfer income, nor has it changed its expropriation scope, object, standard and relief; The same is true of other non-tax revenues. In a word, nothing has changed except that the responsibility of collection and management has been transferred from the original local government (natural resources department) to the vertically managed central tax department.
Five, the transfer of land transfer income to the tax authorities, can reduce the phenomenon of irregular land finance?
Of course.
Centralized collection and management of income and two-way transparency of information have taken a crucial first step for comprehensively rectifying land finance.
The once-rolling "land windfall" has led to a lot of wasteful expenditures. Many local governments use a large amount of land revenue for purposes with low social returns, such as performance projects and image projects that people rarely benefit from. Investment projects that fail or lack the lowest social rate of return not only waste huge resources, but also induce a lot of corruption and rent-seeking.
In addition, in the past, local governments in some cities also misappropriated, intercepted and squeezed land transfer fees. The most typical thing is that after the land transaction, some local government departments misappropriate funds at will, and the land transfer fee does not enter the state treasury according to the normal process, which has caused many financial risks.
This time, the essence of the centralization of fiscal revenue collection and management system is the centralization of collection and management rights and responsibilities, that is, from the decentralized collection and management model originally belonging to local governments to the centralized collection and management model of the central government.
As far as the income from land transfer is concerned, the centralized mode is easier to realize the principle of responsibility target of income collection and management, that is, it requires the actual users and managers of state-owned land to be responsible for the general interests and refuses to abuse and misuse land resources for narrow interests. At the same time, the centralization of income collection and management system is also a clear intervention signal, that is, the relevant information is transparent in both directions, not only to local governments, but also to the central government.
For many years, many important local financial information has been the "black box" of the central government, especially the information related to land finance, such as local government platform, platform debt, local hidden debt, real land transfer income and its flow direction.
After the document Caizong [202 1] 19 is fully implemented in 2022, the revenue collection and management system including land revenue will be fully centralized, so the central government will have sufficient information capacity to promote the comprehensive rectification of land finance.
6. What is the impact of land transfer income turned over to the tax authorities on housing prices?
There is no direct impact.
The impact on housing prices mainly depends on two points: first, the relationship between supply and demand; The second is the real estate control policy. Judging from the current situation, the relationship between land supply and demand is not within the scope of regulation of this notice; However, the real estate control policy has not been loosened, and it has always maintained strict control. Therefore, the transfer of land transfer income to tax authorities is not directly related to housing prices.