中央首提解决地方财政困难

Core Viewpoint - The central government has emphasized the need to address local fiscal difficulties, marking a significant shift in focus during the recent Central Economic Work Conference, which aims to ensure the basic financial security of local governments and improve the local tax system [3][5][10]. Group 1: Local Fiscal Challenges - Local fiscal expenditures generally exceed revenues, necessitating reliance on central government transfers and debt to cover deficits. In the first ten months of this year, local public budget revenues were approximately 10.5 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.1%, while expenditures reached about 19.1 trillion yuan, up 1.2% [5][6]. - The decline in real estate-related tax revenues and land sales has significantly impacted local government finances, with land sale revenues dropping from a peak of 8.7 trillion yuan in 2021 to about 4.8 trillion yuan in 2024, a decrease of approximately 45% [5][6]. - Local governments are facing increasing pressure to maintain basic public services, with some regions experiencing salary delays due to insufficient fiscal resources [6][7]. Group 2: Tax System Reforms - The central government plans to enhance the local tax system, focusing on three key areas: shifting the consumption tax collection to local levels, improving the value-added tax refund policies, and consolidating local additional taxes [11][12]. - The government aims to increase local fiscal autonomy by allowing local authorities to set specific tax rates within certain limits, thereby enhancing their revenue-generating capabilities [11][12]. - The proposed reforms include optimizing the sharing ratio of shared taxes, which could potentially increase local governments' share of revenue from major tax categories like value-added tax and corporate income tax [12]. Group 3: Recommendations for Improvement - Experts suggest that to alleviate local fiscal pressures, the central government should increase transfer payments and raise local debt limits, thereby restoring local governments' capacity to stimulate economic growth [14][15]. - There is a call for the central government to gradually assume responsibilities for social security, public safety, and infrastructure projects to reduce the fiscal burden on local governments [15]. - Local governments are encouraged to enhance revenue through asset management and tax collection while optimizing expenditure structures to improve the efficiency of fiscal resource utilization [14][15].