Xu Shanda: The reform of value-added tax can reduce the burden of trillions of yuan for enterprises

The central economic work conference held a few days ago set the tone for China's macro policy next year. In the content of the meeting, there are a few sentences that attract people's attention, saying that "fiscal policy should take the initiative to promote scientific and technological innovation, accelerate economic restructuring, and adjust income distribution."

How to understand "active action"? How? On December 20, the Fifth National Development Forum hosted by the Peking University Development Institute was held in Beijing, and Xu Shanda, president of the Institute of Finance and Economics and former deputy director of the State Administration of Taxation, interpreted that at present, China's corporate tax burden is still heavy compared with developed countries such as Europe and the United States, and the corporate tax system is not conducive to the development of high-tech asset-heavy enterprises, and it is necessary to further reduce the tax level of China's corporate tax system and stimulate enterprise vitality.

Xu Shanda introduced that at present, there are trillions of government tax credits in China, which is equivalent to the debt owed by the government to enterprises, and if this part of the funds can be released through reform, it will be very beneficial to enterprises, especially the development of high-tech asset-heavy enterprises.

The tax burden of Chinese enterprises is heavier than that of developed countries such as Europe and the United States

Last year, the research team led by Xu Shanda accepted the tax and fee reduction project proposed by the Research Office of the State Council. Comparing the tax systems of China with developed countries such as the United States and Europe, the team found that there is still a big gap between the competitiveness of China's corporate tax system and developed countries such as Europe and the United States, and china's corporate tax burden is still heavy. The team recommends further reducing the tax level of China's corporate tax system.

Xu Shanda said that China's VAT policy has been learned from Europe, but there is a difference between the two policies. Europe stipulates that if the output of the enterprise in the current month is greater than the input item, it is taxed, and the output item is less than the input item, that is, the tax refund; and the method adopted by China is that the output of the enterprise in the current month is greater than the input item, that is, it is taxed, but if the output item is less than the input item, it is not tax refunded, recorded in the account, and then hedged after there is an output item.

"Compared to Europe, our policy is equivalent to the withholding tax paid by enterprises to the government, or equivalent to the debt owed by the government to enterprises." Xu Shanda used an analogy.

He stated that the problem had had little impact in the past, but that there were now two situations that made the problem more and more serious. First, after the "VAT reform", in addition to machinery and equipment, infrastructure projects are also included in the scope of value-added tax, so there is a purchase tax. Second, at present, the state encourages the development of high-tech asset-heavy enterprises, and the scale of investment required by such enterprises is much larger than that of ordinary enterprises, and the investment cycle and production cycle are also longer, so the burden of this type of enterprise is heavier.

Wang Min, an associate professor at Peking University's National Development Research Institute, also said that vat is levied on the appreciation of corporate assets, which is usually reflected in capital and labor. High-tech enterprises are precisely the enterprises with the highest capital investment and manpower investment, so the "VAT reform" will bring unfavorable competition to high-tech enterprises.

"At present, the support of VAT for general manufacturing is OK, but the relative gap for high-tech asset-heavy enterprises is still relatively large." Xu Shanda believes that if we want to further encourage the development of high-tech and asset-heavy enterprises, the competitiveness of China's enterprise tax system needs to be further improved.

The Central Economic Work Conference proposed that fiscal policy should take the initiative in promoting scientific and technological innovation. Enterprises are the main body of China's scientific and technological innovation, if the burden of enterprises is too heavy, the high-quality development of China's economy will produce certain resistance. Xu Shanda said.

He revealed that at present, the number of tax credits set by the government can reach the order of trillions, if this part of the money does not become an advance tax, the whole country can reduce the trillions of enterprise "borrowing", so that the asset-liability ratio of enterprises can fall, the financial statements of listed companies will be better than now, and their stock prices may rise. At the same time, due to the reduction of interest and financing costs, it is very beneficial to the development of enterprises, especially the development of high-tech asset-heavy enterprises.

How to balance tax cuts and fee reductions with local government financial pressures?

In recent years, the tax reduction and fee reduction policy implemented in China has reduced the burden on enterprises and also brought a lot of pressure to the fiscal revenue and expenditure of local governments. If the corporate tax system implements the above reforms, how to balance the loosening of constraints for enterprises and the prevention of the risk of default of local government debt?

Xu Shanda suggested that for the trillions of yuan of tax retained by the government in advance, special debts can be issued, paid off at one time, and then collected later. "It's not that reducing taxes will make you less money, it's delaying the collection."

Xu Shanda also believes that China's macro tax cannot be simply compared with foreign indicators, and it is unscientific to simply compare the figures of the two. He believes that there are four main factors that determine the macro tax standards, one is national security, and the standards in war and peacetime will be different; the second is the competitiveness of the enterprises mentioned above; the third is the people's livelihood factor, the current level of social security in China is relatively low, if you want to fill the gap in the people's livelihood, you must ensure fiscal revenue; the fourth is the level of social management, for example, after the tax collection rate of the tax bureau is increased, the tax can be reduced.

"This side should reduce the burden on enterprises and improve the competitiveness of the corporate tax system; on the other hand, we must improve the welfare of residents and ensure the growth of residents' income. I think the core one is to use the stock of national wealth. Xu Shanda introduced that at present, the State Council has taken as a decision to transfer 10% of the state-owned capital to social security.

"This is a very important strategic decision, that is to say, the improvement and improvement of the social security system in the future will mainly depend on the stock of national wealth, rather than on the allocation from the general budget." Xu Shanda believes that relying solely on the general budget to support the social security system will not work in China. "First use 10% of state-owned capital, I believe that in the future, after the reform of the national social security system, if it is not enough, the 10% ratio can be increased."

Xu Shanda concluded that the stock of national wealth is the main solution to the problem of people's livelihood and welfare represented by social security, and the reduction of taxes and fees to increase the competitiveness of enterprises. The combination of these two points is a comprehensive consideration that China should consider on fiscal and taxation issues during the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period and even longer.

Nandu reporter Lin Fangzhou sent from Beijing