In this spring, a piece of news about land revenue is like a cold wind, blowing away the warmth in people's hearts. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, the country's land transfer income was as high as 8.7 trillion yuan in 2021, but in 2023, this figure has plummeted to 5.79 trillion yuan. What's even more staggering is that entering 2024, land revenue in the first two months alone has fallen to 597.2 billion, indicating that this year's full-year data may be even more bleak than last year. However, this pressure does not seem to have been translated into tax cuts and fee reductions, but may have been indirectly passed on to the daily lives of ordinary people.
1. What is the solution to the financial pressure of land finance?
Land finance used to be the "money bag" of local governments, but now this source of revenue is drying up, and local governments are facing unprecedented financial pressure. In the face of such a dilemma, how to fill the fiscal gap has become a difficult problem for local governments.
After all, in the current economic situation, the pressure on the development of enterprises is heavy, and tax reduction and fee reduction are the key to stimulating the vitality of the market. As a result, local governments have had to look for other ways to fill the fiscal gap.
Second, public service subsidies are decreasing, and people's livelihood costs are rising?
Under fiscal pressure, local governments have had to consider reducing subsidies for public services. These subsidies were originally used to support various public service projects, such as public transportation and garbage disposal, but they have now become the "hardest hit areas" of fiscal cuts. The reduction in subsidies for public services will undoubtedly put pressure on service providers, who are likely to pass on costs to consumers in order to stay afloat.
Taking the gas industry as an example, gas bills have risen in many places recently. Some residents reported a sudden increase in their gas bills, and some even suspected that the gas company had problems such as wrong meter reading and wrong billing stalls. Although these claims have not been confirmed, it is undeniable that the increase in gas bills has become a social phenomenon that cannot be ignored.
3. The "hidden story" behind the rise in gas bills
Is the rise in gas charges a normal reaction to the laws of the market, or is there a deeper reason behind it? On the surface, the rise in gas bills seems to be inextricably linked to the downsizing of land finance and the reduction of subsidies for public services. Under financial pressure, local governments have reduced subsidies for public services such as gas, and these companies have had to raise their fees in order to stay afloat.
However, this is not the whole truth. Behind the rise in gas bills, there are some unknown factors. For example, some gas companies may have problems such as poor management and inefficiency, resulting in high operating costs, while others may take advantage of their monopoly position in the market to increase prices to make more profits. The combination of these factors makes the rise in gas bills a complex social problem.
How to balance the cost of people's livelihood?
The downsizing of land finance has brought unprecedented financial pressure to local governments. However, in addressing this issue, we cannot ignore the impact on people's livelihoods. The increase in gas bills is just the tip of the iceberg, and it reflects the problem of how local governments can balance the cost of public services and people's livelihood under fiscal pressure.
In the face of this challenge, we need to think deeply about how to reduce the burden of people's lives while ensuring the quality of public services. Perhaps, by optimizing the structure of fiscal expenditure, improving the efficiency of public services, and strengthening market supervision, we can find a win-win path that can not only alleviate fiscal pressure, but also protect people's livelihood.
In this context, some areas of people's livelihood that seem to be not directly related to land finance, such as gas costs, have quietly become one of the affected links. As the old saying goes, "Under the nest, there are eggs?" In this storm of fiscal adjustment, even those who do not enjoy the wealth brought by rising housing prices will inevitably feel the rising cost of living.