Chapter 24 Chapter 22: How far are civil servants from "sunshine wages"

Whether legally or rationally, the public should have the right to know about the income of civil servants. This is the basic requirement of a society ruled by law and the meaning of a harmonious society. On November 30, 2008, Xiao Zhang, a recent graduate of Peking University, got up at 6 o'clock, made some hasty preparations, and rushed to take the civil service exam. He accepted the challenge with 775,000 candidates from all over the country. On this day, the 2009 written examinations for civil servants of the central government and its directly affiliated institutions were held simultaneously in 38 cities in 31 examination areas across the country, competing for 13,500 positions, and the acceptance rate was only 1.75%!

"If you are admitted as a civil servant, you will not only be able to keep your income in droughts and floods, but also have a considerable monthly income in addition to various hidden incomes." After the tense exam in the morning, Xiao Zhang finally breathed a sigh of relief, and he confessed to the reporter. Among the civil servant candidates, it is more common for people who have ideas like Xiao Zhang.It is understood that many people apply for civil servants, in addition to value the stability of civil servants' work, low pressure, and generous benefits, the expectation of hidden income other than salary of civil servants has become a taboo psychology of many applicants.

The reporter's investigation found that although the wages of civil servants in our country are not high, there are a large number of hidden income such as allowances and subsidies in addition to wages, which makes the wage income of some civil servants very different from their actual income, leaving a lot of suspense and room for infinite associations for the public. Many interviewees believe that the existence of hidden income outside the salary of these civil servants has created opportunities for corruption to take advantage of it. Only when the income is allocated uniformly by the state can a fair and transparent civil servant income distribution system be established.

Since November 2008, it has been reported that some places have increased the salaries of civil servants. Among them, Tangshan, Hebei, civil servants’ allowances and subsidies have been increased by 600 yuan per capita per month, and the average monthly allowances and subsidies of civil servants in Henan Province have increased by 300 yuan... And more places, No. The second round of salary adjustments may start gradually.This news immediately caused mouth water. Regarding the news of civil servant salary increases, Henan and Hebei Tangshan first came out to "refute the rumors", saying that there was never a plan for salary increase, and the two places only standardized the allowances and subsidies for civil servants.Then came the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security to publicly deny it.However, the public opinion does not seem to buy it, and accusations about civil servants' salary increases in disguise continue...

It is understood that it is not surprising that the public is so sensitive to civil servant salary increases.Over the years, the public's personal feelings and doubts and conjectures about the hidden income of civil servants' wages have caused the civil servants' salary increase to a certain extent to lose the basis of public opinion. As early as March 2008, the salary slip of an official employee of the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce showed that on a salary slip with a monthly income of 5,935 yuan, the personal income tax column was zero.The party insisted that he had paid the individual tax, and the unit of the party also stated that the individual income tax had been withheld and paid by the unit, but the taxation department was vague, and so far nothing has been seen.

Such cases seem to verify some intuitions and judgments of the public to a certain extent. The actual income of civil servants has always been in the "clouds and mist" for the public. According to 2003 figures, the national average annual salary of civil servants is 15,487 yuan, which is basically equivalent to the national average annual salary of 16,024 yuan for urban employees in the same period. However, the public does not agree with such statistical results.Many interviewees believed that, from a national perspective, the average salary of civil servants is not high, but this does not include allowances and subsidies granted to civil servants by some government departments outside the system regulations, such as meal subsidies, housing subsidies, and heatstroke prevention expenses , Heating expenses, books and newspapers fees, cleaning fees and other hidden income.

A civil servant who has just been working for two years in a state in Yunnan Province revealed to the reporter: “Civil servants who work in provincial and municipal departments with real power enjoy the best treatment. Some civil servants have two cards, one for salary and the other for payment. Various subsidies, allowances, and some weddings and funerals are also included, and no personal income tax is paid.” "The income distribution of civil servants outside the formal channels is a decentralized operation in the dark, and the number is getting bigger and bigger." Jia Kang, director of the Institute of Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance and doctoral supervisor, is even more blunt. "In many places and departments, civil servants Earnings off the payroll are already greater than on the payroll.”

According to the data, from 1985 to 2003, my country adjusted the salary system of government agencies and public institutions 8 times, and the salary gap between civil servants at different ranks narrowed from 10.2 times in 1985 to 6.6 times in 2008. "The salary gap of civil servants in our country is not large. But in actual operation, civil servants in central state agencies, provinces, cities, and prefectures and counties are treated differently, and even between different regions, industries, and departments in the same position, the income gap can reach several times." Nankai University Professor Qi Shanhong, a doctoral supervisor, analyzed in an interview with reporters that “it is hidden incomes such as various allowances, subsidies and in-kinds that lead to the income gap, and they even constitute the main part of civil servants’ income in some regions and departments.”

It is understood that the Civil Servant Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2006, stipulates: "The wages of civil servants include basic wages, allowances, subsidies and bonuses." Regarding the annual allowance and subsidy standards for civil servants in various regions, the state has issued a range, and the average value cannot be lower than 21,000 yuan per year, and cannot be higher than 40,000 yuan. "Although the state has unified and standardized the salary structure of civil servants, it has not established a unified payment system." Professor Li Chengyan, a doctoral supervisor at the School of Government Administration of Peking University, said in an interview, "The basic salary of civil servants implements a national unified standard and is paid by the central government. As for allowances , Subsidies and bonuses depend entirely on the fiscal revenues of various localities and departments. From a vertical perspective, civil servants in the central government and state agencies are subject to more supervision, and the treatment they enjoy is not as good as imagined. lower than other institutions."

The reporter's investigation found that the hidden income of civil servants mainly comes from extra-budgetary funds, and the current income and expenditure of extra-budgetary funds are mostly concentrated at the local level.Various administrative charges, funds and confiscated income of various departments have become the main components of extrabudgetary funds. Judging from the analysis of civil servants' application for examinations in recent years, it can be seen that some departments with confiscation powers, such as the judiciary, transportation, and industry and commerce, have always been the places where civil servant applicants flock to the examination.At the same time, some large cities and economically developed eastern regions have good infrastructure and high fiscal revenue, and are also favored by many civil servant candidates.However, the public agencies in the underdeveloped western regions can neither attract talents nor retain them.

"I am a civil servant in a township in northern Shaanxi. I have just worked for two years, and now my monthly salary is less than 2,000 yuan. Apart from that, I have almost no other income. The year-end bonus is only 200 yuan." The reporter saw a Netizens left messages like this. In stark contrast, in December 2008, a female civil servant in Shanghai who had just become a full-time employee posted her annual salary (including basic income of 59,150 yuan, subsidized income of 24,900 yuan, and non-cash benefits of 6,000 yuan) online at 90,050 yuan. RMB 7,500 per month on average. "The income distribution of civil servants is not standardized, which encourages the rent-seeking behavior of some power departments." Yang Zhonghong, an associate professor at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, believes that "the public sector abuses its public power indiscriminately charging, apportioning, and imposing fines, which endangers the public. Management and administrative efficiency provide the possibility for corruption to arise.” "Recessive income will inevitably affect the country's income distribution system, leading to disorder in the distribution order." Yin Yungong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told reporters, "In the field of primary distribution, it will lead to distortions in the allocation of factors, affect efficiency, and affect future economic development. In the field of redistribution, it may cause a reverse redistribution of national income, and the funds that should be used for low-income residents are transferred through improper channels, further widening the income gap and unfair distribution.” "To establish a harmonious society, we need to standardize the order of income distribution, starting with the order of income distribution of government officials." On March 8, 2006, Wang Jianlun, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Social and Legal Affairs Committee, said at the "Two Sessions" of the country, "Hope The government has introduced relevant plans to regulate the hidden income of civil servants outside their salaries." As early as 2005, the Central Office and the State Office forwarded the "Opinions on Cleaning Up and Standardizing the Work of Allowances and Subsidies" issued by six ministries and commissions. In 2006, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and other six departments issued the "Notice on the Issue of Regulating Civil Service Allowances and Subsidies". Clean up and standardize the distribution of allowances and subsidies by central agencies, provinces and cities. It is planned to use three years to control regional differences within a reasonable range, and use administrative means to "cut peaks and fill valleys" so that the level of subsidies and subsidies between different departments of the government at the same level Roughly the same. In July 2007, Beijing launched the "Sunshine Wage" reform, which made all the income of civil servants open and transparent—the income of civil servants varies by department and region, the income is opaque, and there are many "hidden incomes" such as allowances, subsidies, bonuses, etc. , become the target of this reform.This move has shaken the long-standing income gap of civil servants among departments, levels and regions and the hidden areas of extra-wage income. In addition, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou and other places have also successively become cities that implement the "sunshine income" system for civil servants. However, these reforms still encountered many people's doubts.They believe that if only civil servant allowances and subsidies are regulated, and “capacity” is not regulated, hidden income will also be realized through means other than allowances, such as luxurious job consumption, such as the unit paying individual taxes on behalf of employees, which is also a means. "This kind of reform cannot completely eliminate the continued acquisition of non-sunshine parts, and it is easy for those civil servants who have power, status, and job consumption to legalize their past illegal income and widen the income gap between them and others. "Yang Zhonghong said. Many interviewees believe that as long as extra-budgetary funds are still flooding, then the significance of regulating the hidden income of civil servants is not significant, or even completely impossible to achieve. Statistics show that the total amount of extra-budgetary funds in my country in 2006 was comparable to the national fiscal revenue of 3.9 trillion yuan, and the administrative fees of government departments at all levels accounted for more than a quarter of the total extra-budgetary funds.In other words, the flood of hidden income of civil servants is only a superficial phenomenon, and the flood of extra-budgetary funds is the root of the problem. Many experts interviewed believe that to truly regulate the hidden income of civil servants, the effective way is to bring all extra-budgetary funds into government budget control, implement a thorough separation of income and expenditure, eliminate extra-budgetary funds, and allocate civil servant income uniformly by the state. It is understood that Western countries generally pass legislation to narrow the income gap between employees.For example, in order to curb the excessive growth of civil servant wages, the United States formulated the "Federal Salary Comparison Act", which strictly prohibits unreasonable income. The so-called unreasonable income includes both wage income and hidden income outside wages.Similar laws include Germany's "Federal Wages Law", Japan's "General Workers' Wages Law", and so on. Jia Kang suggested: "First of all, gradually increase the salary level of civil servants through formal channels. At the same time, gradually compress and merge those detailed and cumbersome specific standards, appropriately expand the salary level, and reasonably reflect different elements in the salary, such as position, seniority, and performance. Second. , vigorously reduce and eliminate all kinds of cash and in-kind distributions outside the formal channels, uncover hidden accounts, establish an effective supervision system and coordinate the control system of the overall level of distribution by various departments and units. Third, coordinate public finance The reform of budget management, including the income distribution of civil servants into the departmental budget, the implementation of "two lines of income and expenditure", embarked on the system track of centralized treasury payment, and the whole process is supervised. Fourth, to cooperate with the reform of the existing public institutions in the government system, Gradually make the salaries of civil servants and the salaries of personnel in a few public institutions that still need to be funded by the finance in the future, as well as the salaries of personnel in public institutions that should be socialized and commercialized, go their own way, and form standardized systems and reasonable mechanisms respectively.” "The overall orientation of civil servant salary reform should be to eliminate civil servants' extrajudicial benefits." Zou Jin, a lawyer from Beijing Hechuan Law Firm, believes that "this requires the establishment and improvement of a national civil servant income supervision mechanism. Without the approval of the National People's Congress or the local people's congress, the administrative Units are not allowed to allocate extra-budgetary funds without authorization to ensure the legitimacy and uniqueness of the source of income for civil servants." "At the same time, actively create conditions for the implementation of property and income disclosure systems, and implement an adequate property declaration system for civil servants, especially senior civil servants." The income of civil servants forms a more powerful external monitoring."