In 2008, from the implementation of the new enterprise income tax law and its implementing regulations, to the re-improvement of personal income tax expense deduction standard, the adjustment of automobile consumption tax policy, to the expansion of the pilot scope of value-added tax transformation reform and the announcement of the national implementation plan, tax reform has become the hottest economic topic. From what aspects will China's tax system be reformed and improved this year? Recently, Zhang Xuedan, director of the Tax Policy Research Office of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance, combined with the spirit of the National Financial Work Conference, analyzed, interpreted and prospected the direction and content of the tax reform in 2009.
The national financial work conference held in May, 438+10 made clear the key points of this year's tax reform from six aspects: implementing the reform of refined oil tax, promoting the reform of value-added tax, implementing the reform of resource tax, perfecting the consumption tax system, unifying other tax systems of domestic and foreign-funded enterprises and individuals, and studying environmental tax policies. Zhang Xuedan believes that in response to the global economic recession caused by the international financial crisis and the slowdown of China's economic growth, the central government has adopted a proactive fiscal policy including "structural tax reduction" in due course. Judging from the content of tax reform in 2009 currently determined by the Ministry of Finance, although tax increase reform and tax reduction reform coexist, tax reduction reform is the main one in general, which meets the requirements of current active fiscal policy.
Regarding the reform of refined oil taxes and fees implemented this year, Zhang Xuedan said that the actual effect of this reform is better than originally expected, and most people support the reform. At present, there are two issues worthy of attention, one is the placement of unemployed people, and the other is how the central government can make reasonable transfer payments to local governments after the reform. Before the reform, due to the different levels of economic development, the number of vehicles and the different collection methods and standards of various traffic charges, the scale of charges was quite different, which made it difficult for the central government to calculate the transfer payment base. Local governments hope to use the total fees in 2008 as the base of transfer payment. However, the relevant departments of the central government believe that the brewing process of the reform of refined oil taxes and fees in 2008 has not ended, and the total amount of fees in various places cannot be determined. This uncertain data can hardly be used as a basis for calculating the cardinality. Therefore, the central government will take the total traffic charges in 2007 as the base for calculating the transfer payment. After running-in in 2009, it is considered that the new transfer payment mechanism can fully meet the requirements of the reform of refined oil taxes and fees.
The reform of expanding the scope of VAT deduction has been carried out nationwide since this year. Zhang Xuedan said that there will be no major problems in promoting this reform in 2009 due to the early pilot and full preparation. At present, the only problem that needs attention is the impact of this reform on the central and local fiscal revenues. According to the calculation of the Ministry of Finance, the national fiscal revenue will be reduced by 654.38+023.3 billion yuan due to the value-added tax reform, of which the value-added tax will be reduced by 654.38+020 billion yuan and the additional tax will be reduced by 3.3 billion yuan. However, he also believes that the fiscal burden reduction brought by the VAT reform can be described as "just in time", which is in line with the current active fiscal policy.
Resource tax reform may become the "highlight" of tax reform in 2009. Zhang Xuedan said that the resource tax reform plan was submitted to the State Council at the end of 2008, but it failed to be launched at the beginning of the new year as planned. The main reason is that the current macroeconomic situation is getting colder, and the current implementation of this reform will increase the burden on some enterprises. According to the current resource tax reform plan, mineral water, geothermal and other resource products will be included in the scope of resource tax collection, which will further promote the rational and economical use of water resources. In addition, the resource tax reform will also implement a combination of quantitative and ad valorem collection, which can play a better role in regulating products with large price fluctuations such as coal and oil.
Regarding the improvement of the consumption tax system, Zhang Xuedan believes that it is urgent to raise the cigarette consumption tax rate. At present, China has joined the World Convention on Tobacco Control, which requires States parties to take various measures to control cigarette consumption. In order to fulfill the contract, it will be a feasible way for China to reduce cigarette consumption by raising the consumption tax rate. At the same time, he believes that when adjusting policies, we should not only consider the development status of domestic related industries, but also consider the demand for related products in the domestic market to prevent major fluctuations in these industries.
The unification of tax policies of foreign-funded enterprises in China includes not only the enterprise income tax system, but also the property tax, vehicle and vessel use tax, urban construction tax and education surcharge. With the abolition of the urban real estate tax levied on foreign-funded enterprises and foreigners this year, the only tax policies and regulations that have not yet been unified for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises are urban construction tax and education surcharge, which will be the focus of unifying the tax system for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises in the next step.
Environmental tax is also a hot spot of tax reform that people are generally concerned about at present. Zhang Xuedan said that in the future, China will "green" the existing tax system, collect environmental taxes separately, and set tax items for pollutants such as carbon and sulfur under the category of environmental taxes. At present, there are still many technical difficulties in levying environmental tax in China, especially the lack of efficient and low-cost means to monitor and measure the pollutant emissions of enterprises. In 2009, environmental tax is likely to be still in the research and exploration stage.
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