CHINA DAILY | 優化構建複合稅制縮小收入差距（英文版）

本文刊登於2022年6月1日《CHINA DAILY》

A comprehensive taxation system needs to bebuilt to narrow the income gap

By Jia Kang

Despite the fact that China realized thegoal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2020, thecountry still has a wide income gap between the rich and the poor. In manyWestern countries, income redistribution mechanisms based mainly on directtaxes have been established to narrow the wealth gaps to some extent. Incomparison, China’s fiscal revenue remains heavily reliant on indirecttaxation, which cannot effectively redistribute income to reduce the wealthgap.

China’s current personal income tax ismainly levied on wages and the remuneration of middle-income residents, such asacademics and other professionals. Salaried workers and middle-income peoplenow shoulder the bulk of individual income tax, which is supposed to targethigh-income people. Moreover, individual income tax only accounts for about 6percent of the country’s total tax revenue, and there is still a long way to gofor it to play its due role in income redistribution.

In many countries, property tax is usuallycollected to reduce the income gap. But in China, property tax accounts for anegligible share in the total tax revenue. To ameliorate the incomeredistribution mechanism, China needs to enlarge the proportion of property tax— including vehicle and vessel tax, real estate tax and urban land use tax — inthe total tax revenue. Real estate tax, a type of property tax levied on ownersof immovable property such as houses, is an important source of fiscal revenue,and plays a key role in adjusting income distribution and regulating thehousing market. Currently, the collection of real estate tax is being pilotedin two cities in China — Chongqing and Shanghai — and the tax applies to onlynewly purchased houses, thus having limited effect on the housing market.

Inheritance tax and gift tax targethigh-income people who obtain huge amounts of wealth without any personaleffort. The introduction of the two types of tax can reduce the income gapresulting from accidental causes or the differences in family background, andthus encourage people to make money through hard work or innovations. China hasnot yet put on its agenda to levy inheritance tax and gift tax, though a planto study the issue is being discussed. The collection of inheritance taxrequires a mature property ownership system and a real-name propertyregistration system, including the establishment of a property declaration anddisclosure system for officials. Meanwhile, the levying of a gift tax shouldalso be planned, and, accordingly, more efforts should be made to enhance theestablishment of standardized regulations for the management of charityfoundations.

The function of consumption tax inadjusting income distribution also needs improvement. In China, consumption taxtargets some selected items of consumer goods. In recent years, the adjustmentof consumption tax has been largely aimed at protecting the environment andcurbing unreasonable consumption, but the tax’s role in wealth redistributionis not given due attention. Some luxury goods are not yet covered byconsumption tax. In the future, the coverage of consumption tax should expandto more goods and tax rates should be increased.

China should build a comprehensive taxationsystem — comprising a value-added tax, consumption tax, resource tax,environment tax, corporate income tax, individual income tax, real estate tax,inheritance tax and gift tax — to help reduce the income gap through amulti-pronged approach. The various types of tax should be complementary andcoordinated in adjusting income distribution. In the taxation system, directtaxes should be responsible for adjusting wealth distribution while raisingrevenue for the government.

Direct taxes, levied on tax payersaccording to their income levels, should be able to make richer peoplecontribute more to the government revenue, which is vital to adjusting incomedistribution and preventing wealth polarization in the society.

In trying to build a modern society, Chinamust establish a modern taxation system in which direct taxes form an integralpart. Meanwhile, the country needs to reform its local tax system in a phasedmanner for which the key is to draft a real estate tax law. The centralgovernment has postponed its plan to expand the experimental real estate taxprogram across the country to accumulate more experience to support legislationover the long term. In addition, the inheritance tax and gift tax should alsobe introduced. Despite the greater headwinds, China has reached consensus onpursuing common prosperity. Now it is urgent to crack the hard nuts and striveto achieve the largest consensus for the introduction of direct taxes throughlegislation to establish related institutional frameworks.

Since 2016, China has seen a wave ofhousing price hikes in major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.To cool off the housing market, authorities rolled out a host of controlmeasures, mostly administrative approaches, which only temporarily checked thesoaring housing prices but did not solve the underlying problem. Now Chinafaces the challenge of reviving the sluggish housing market. In this context,the country should adjust its housing market regulation policies, and push forthe legislation of real estate tax, which will help support the long-termhealthy development of the housing sector. Once approved by the nation’slegislature, a property tax could be first levied in cities under pressure torein in their overheated housing markets, which will help prevent theirreal estate bubbles from bursting and foster a new source of tax revenues forthe establishment of a local taxation system. By so doing, it will createfavorable conditions for optimizing the tax revenue sharing system between thecentral and the local governments and therefore promoting the reform of thefiscal relations between the central government and local governments.

The author is chiefeconomist at the China Academy of New Supply-Side Economics. The authorcontributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily.The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

優化構建複合稅制縮小收入差距

2020年我們已達到全面小康。但是收入差距懸殊的狀況，客觀地講，是十分明顯的。西方國家居民收入差距的縮小主要是通過再分配環節來實現，並已在多年發展中形成了以直接稅爲主的調節機制。我國的稅收現在仍是以間接稅爲主，再分配功能有限，調節乏力，某些再分配政策在實施中還存在逆向調節問題，使居民收入差距難以有效緩解。

我國現行個人所得稅負主要針對工薪等四項勞動所得，中等收入階層特別是專家型、創新型的知識分子勞動收入，成爲收入調節的主要對象，承擔了較大部分稅收，社會成員的薪酬等勞動所得承擔了較大比重的稅負。原本是調節高收入羣體的個人所得稅，在我國卻主要調節了勞動者收入和中產階層，而且覆蓋面在2018年新一輪個稅改革後，開始時僅覆蓋3000多萬人，全國年度個稅收入僅佔稅收總收入的6%左右，個人所得稅在調節分配收入差距方面的主體手段並沒有得到充分發揮，導致收入再分配功能發揮不理想。

財產稅一般都被作爲調節收入分配差距的主要稅種，但我國財產稅在稅收收入中佔比極低，尚難以成爲收入調節的主要工具。爲優化收入再分配，稅制改革方向是加大財產稅在我國稅收收入中的佔比。我國現行財產稅主要包括車船稅、房產稅、城鎮土地使用稅等稅種。房地產稅屬於不動產(包括消費性住房)持有環節的財產稅，具有取得財政收入、調節收入分配和調控房地產市場等多方面的作用。目前我國房地產稅僅在上海和重慶試點，只涉及增量或以增量爲主，遠未全面鋪開。

遺產稅和贈與稅直接面向的是那些不是通過自己努力而以繼承獲得鉅額存量資產的高收入階層，它的出臺既可以縮小由代際和偶然原因而造成的個人收入差距，同時也倡導了個人要通過自己的努力獲得收入的理念與創造性文化。目前，我國遺產稅和贈與稅徵收尚未進入議事日程，但相關文件提出要“研究開徵”。開徵遺產稅需要大力健全財產保護制度、財產實名登記制度等相應的管理制度，包括在配套改革中確立官員財產的報告與公示制度，同時，也應一併設計贈與稅，並相應地加強公益性基金會的規範化制度建設。

消費稅應有的調節功能有待完善。我國消費稅選擇了部分消費品徵稅。近年來，消費稅的調整更多從調節消費、保護環境方面出發，而對其收入分配功能的關注相對較少。部分高檔消費行爲還沒有納入徵稅範圍，將來需要增加消費稅的品種和提高稅率。

我們需要構建一個包括增值稅、消費稅、資源稅、環境稅、企業所得稅、個人所得稅、房產稅、遺產稅和贈與稅等多稅種在內的稅收調節體系，以多渠道緩解因收入差距形成的矛盾。這些稅種在調節範圍、調節力度和調節廣度上是相互補充、相互協調的關係。在複合稅制組合中，直接稅的作用更多體現爲：在籌集政府收入的同時，調節收入分配、調節經濟和社會生活。直接稅的這種調節作用應是按照支付能力原則“區別對待”的，在社會成員收入必然有高低差異的情況下，直接稅會使有支付能力、更爲富裕的社會成員對公共金庫做出更多的貢獻。直接稅這種遏制兩極分化趨向的功效，使其在社會收入分配和財產配置全流程裡面有着不可或缺的地位。

中國要走向現代社會，必須有現代稅制，也就必須有現代化的直接稅。同時，這也關聯構建地方稅體系的改革任務，要按照中央的要求，積極穩妥立法然後分步實施，解決房地產稅的問題——爲更豐富地取得本土經驗支持立法，中央已要求的“擴大房產稅改革試點範圍”還待擇機出臺具體方案。還有遺產稅和贈與稅，它們是無法迴避的，但是推行它們的難度更大。我們在實現共同富裕的取向上已進一步得到了認定，在攻堅克難中要有緊迫感，要在立法過程中通過取得最大公約數，把相關的規則和制度框架建立起來。

2016年之後，在北上廣深等一線城市帶動下，一大批中心城市出現了房價暴漲之勢，其後，被稱爲新政的應對措施，還是行政手段爲主，治標而不治本。最新的動態則是對房地產市場低迷狀態要給予升溫的調節措施。在這種背景下，應全面考慮優化相關制度安排和優化房地產調控政策，積極考慮如何審時度勢推進房地產稅立法進程，把這一稅制改革任務納入打造房地產業健康發展長效機制所需的基礎性制度建設中。未來如得到立法機關審批通過，房地產稅可率先在房價上升壓力大的城市實施。這樣既有利於抑制一線城市的房價和房地產泡沫，也有利於打造地方稅主體稅種、構建地方稅體系，又可爲中央與地方的收入劃分優化創造條件，進而推動央地財政關係改革。

賈 康 簡 介

第十一屆、十二屆全國政協委員、現任全國政協參政議政人才庫特聘專家，華夏新供給經濟學研究院創始院長，中國財政科學研究院研究員、博導。曾長期擔任財政部財政科學研究所所長。北京、上海、福建、安徽、甘肅、廣西、西藏等地方政府特聘專家、顧問或諮詢委員，北京大學、中國人民大學、國家行政學院、中央社會主義學院、南開大學、武漢大學、廈門大學、安徽大學等多所高校特聘教授。1988年曾入選亨氏基金項目，到美國匹茲堡大學做訪問學者一年。1995年享受國務院政府特殊津貼。1997年被評爲國家百千萬人才工程高層次學術帶頭人。多次受黨和國家領導同志之邀座談經濟工作。擔任2010年1月8日中央政治局第十八次集體學習“財稅體制改革”專題講解人之一。孫冶方經濟學獎、黃達—蒙代爾經濟學獎和中國軟科學大獎獲得者。國家“十一五”、“十二五”、“十三五”規劃專家委員會委員、國家發改委PPP專家庫專家委員會成員。2013年，主編《新供給：經濟學理論的中國創新》，發起成立“華夏新供給經濟學研究院”和“新供給經濟學50人論壇”（任首任院長、首任秘書長，第二屆理事會期間任首席經濟學家），2015年-2016年與蘇京春合著出版《新供給經濟學》、《供給側改革：新供給簡明讀本》以及《中國的坎：如何跨越“中等收入陷阱”（獲評中國圖書評論學會和央視的“2016年度中國好書”）》，2016年出版的《供給側改革十講》被中組部、新聞出版廣電總局和國家圖書館評爲全國精品教材。2017-2020年又撰寫出版《供給側結構性改革理論模型與實踐路徑》、《供給側改革主線上的未來財稅》、《財政學通論》等多部專著。2021年與劉薇合作《雙循環新發展格局》一書又獲評“2021年度中國好書”。根據《中國社會科學評估》公佈的2006～2015年我國哲學社會科學6268種學術期刊700餘萬篇文獻的大統計分析，賈康先生的發文量（398篇），總被引頻次（4231次）和總下載頻次（204115次）均列第一位，綜合指數3429，遙居第一，是經濟學核心作者中的代表性學者。

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做學問的甘苦，如魚在水，冷暖自知，不足爲外人道，但關於做學問的“指導思想”，我願意在此一披襟懷：寫出一些論文或著作並不是目的，這是探索之途上的一小步，是爭取爲人類的思想認識之海中加一滴水。我深信，一切人生的虛榮浮華都是過眼煙雲，而真正的學術和真知灼見，才能垂諸久遠。

—— 賈 康

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