Chapter 55 Researchers and makers of economic policies in the field of social development

While insisting on amateur literary creation, Xie Sizhong has been working hard to do his job well. After being transferred to the Ministry of Construction, Xie Sizhong was mainly engaged in the management of higher education in construction. He was specifically responsible for the preparation of two urban construction colleges in Wuhan and Suzhou, and served as the deputy director of the Higher Education Division. At the end of 1987, when the ministries democratically recommended candidates for deputy bureau-level reserve cadres, he was far ahead in the number of votes. In 1988, in order to strengthen the legislative work in the field of construction, he was selected and transferred to be the director of the Regulations Division; this division has 8 staff members and is the largest division in the Ministry.During the two years of working in the Regulations Department, he learned legal knowledge by himself, and was responsible for drafting and revising more than a dozen regulations. During this period, he promulgated the "Urban Planning Law", "Interim Regulations on Urban House Demolition and Relocation", etc. In June 1990, he was selected and transferred to the Secretariat Bureau of the General Office of the State Council—he has entered Zhongnanhai since then.

Xie Sizhong served as the head of the Education, Science, Culture and Health Group in the Secretariat Bureau of the General Office of the State Council. In addition to participating in the State Council's coordination of various departments in the field of social development, he also participated in the formulation of a number of State Council documents.For example, he once visited the United States with the former State Education Commission staff, and on the basis of extensively listening to the opinions of overseas students, he participated in the drafting of a document on the "freedom to come and go" of overseas students; A document on strengthening the management of the performance market.

Perhaps in view of Xie Sizhong's talent in policy research and formulation, as well as his long-term background in educational and cultural activities, in June 1992, he was transferred to the Research Office of the State Council as Deputy Director of the Department of Education, Science, Culture and Health. He presided over the work of the department and became the director in 1994.The Research Office of the State Council is the staff and advisory body of the State Council. In addition to drafting government work reports and completing tasks assigned by the leaders of the State Council, it also provides policy suggestions to the leaders of the State Council and participates in the formulation of some policies.

The Department of Education, Science, Culture and Health where Xie Sizhong works is mainly engaged in policy research and formulation in the fields of education, science and technology, culture, health, sports and other social development.He has participated in the formulation of the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education, the "Ninth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Outline of Long-term Goals in 2010", "The Outline of China's Educational Reform and Development", and the "Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Accelerating Science and Technology" Drafting of documents such as "Decision on Technological Progress".In order to give full play to his role as a consultant in the field of social development, he did not stop at daily affairs and tasks assigned by the leaders of the State Council. Instead, according to the needs of the development of the situation, he took the initiative to select topics for investigation and research, and put forward policy suggestions to the leaders of the State Council.

Soon after Xie Sizhong was transferred to the Research Office of the State Council, the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held.According to the spirit of “improving economic policies related to cultural undertakings” put forward in the report of the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he first chose the research and formulation of cultural economic policies.In view of the fact that many vulgar cultural products were flooding the cultural market at that time, but the traditional management methods were ineffective, he began to study the regulation by economic means, and independently completed the research report "Policy Suggestions for Regulating the Cultural Industry with Taxes", and proposed the implementation of Policy proposals for differential tax rates, that is, to implement high and low tax rates for cultural products that are allowed and advocated.

In his research report, he pointed out that the means of regulating the cultural market mainly include administration, economy, law and public opinion, none of which is a panacea, and must be used comprehensively and organically.For illegal cultural commodity business activities, it is possible to take a multi-pronged approach and crack down severely; for legal cultural commodity business activities, it should be treated differently: the first category is healthy, civilized, positive, and should be vigorously promoted; the second category is for supplying Simple entertainment, including some vulgar things, is allowed, but it should not be excessive.Since the first category of cultural commodities is also subject to market laws, it is far from enough to rely solely on administrative promotion and public opinion praise when a considerable number of cultural consumers' spiritual realm and appreciation level have yet to be improved. Means of support to give it stronger market competitiveness.For the second type of cultural commodities, administrative intervention and public opinion guidance often appear weak, because the purpose of operators of such cultural commodities is to make money; since money is the driving force, economic measures should be taken to treat the case accordingly, at least to make them ineffective. Great profits can be made, so that it can play the role of drawing salary from the bottom of the pot.

In the research report, Xie Sizhong analyzed and compared several economic means such as price, finance, credit, and taxation, and believed that the use of tax regulation has the following advantages: First, the state can directly adjust operating income and profits based on the social benefits of cultural commodities, Tax reductions and exemptions are implemented for the first category of cultural commodities, while heavy taxes are imposed on the second category of cultural commodities; second, taxation can cover all cultural commodities and run through the entire field of production and circulation; third, although taxation is an economic means, it is not effective in implementation But it is mandatory; Fourth, taxation is only carried out between the state and operators, without the intervention of consumers, and will not cause public mood swings and social unrest.

On the basis of drawing lessons from similar practices in some countries in the world, Xie Sizhong put forward in his research report the idea of ​​using differential tax rates to regulate the cultural market: First, the taxation department should adjust the tax types and tax rates of the cultural industry, and a new special tax rate can be added. Tax types can also use the existing business tax, value-added tax and other tax types, or a combination of the two; second, cultural management departments at all levels and types should establish special organizations to evaluate the social benefits of cultural commodities that apply for tax reduction and exemption. The standard is divided into several levels; the third is that the state finance should return part of the funds from the taxes paid by the cultural industry to support some excellent traditional national cultures and troupes representing the overall national art level, as well as projects that require special funding Fourth, considering the heavy tasks of taxation departments, cultural market authorities at all levels can implement them under the guidance and supervision of taxation and financial departments; fifth, relevant departments should strengthen investigation and research. According to the characteristics of various cultural industries such as industry and entertainment, formulate feasible tax regulation policies respectively.

Xie Sizhong's research report quickly attracted the attention and affirmation of relevant parties.The Policy Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China distributed it to the central leaders in the form of "Briefing Notes"; the National Symposium on Cultural Work Theory hosted by the Central Propaganda Department invited him to present this proposal and publish it in the collection of seminars; Daily, "China Culture News" and other newspapers also reprinted or interviewed him; in 1993, the research report won the second prize of "China Reform Suggestion Award".

The leaders of the State Council also paid attention to the research report, and instructed that the Research Office of the State Council should take the lead and cooperate with relevant departments such as the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television, the Press and Publication Administration, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage to jointly form the subject of "improving economic policies related to cultural undertakings" The group, with Xie Sizhong as the head of the research group, conducts comprehensive research on cultural and economic policies, and drafts State Council documents on this basis.After more than a year of research, the research report was completed; in addition to being distributed to the leaders of the State Council, it was also published on the front page of "Guangming Daily" and published as a book "Improving Cultural and Economic Policies" together with related research results. The inscription of this book: "Improve cultural and economic policies, and prosper socialist cultural undertakings".

On the basis of the above-mentioned report, the task force started to draft the State Council document.During the drafting process of the document, after some efforts, Zhu Ji, the vice premier in charge of finance and taxation at the time, stated at the National Propaganda Work Conference: In principle, it is agreed that the national financial part will return the cultural industry to pay profits and taxes, and the relevant departments will implement it in detail. This not only makes the entire cultural industry The industry will receive financial support from the state, and it will also create conditions for the implementation of differential tax rates.However, due to the reasons of individual departments of the publicity and cultural system, the above-mentioned content was not implemented in the final State Council document, nor was there any provision for differential tax rates.After 10 years, at the beginning of 2003, a leader of the cultural department also consulted Xie Sizhong, planning to restart the policy of differential tax rates; saved relevant information. In 1993, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee passed the "Decision on Accelerating the Establishment of a Socialist Market Economic System".Various undertakings in the field of social development in our country have always relied on state funding under the planned economy system; after the release of the "Decision", the market in this field has boomed, and there is an urgent need to strengthen management, and some economic policies also need to be improved.Xie Sizhong had previously taught himself economic knowledge. Faced with this situation, he left work and entered the National School of Administration to further study economic theory. Economic policy research, and drafted and formulated some relevant documents; during this period, combined with the subject research, he edited and published works such as "Research on Structural Adjustment of China's Science and Technology System", "Improve Health Economic Policy" and "Sports Economic Policy Research". Since the reform and opening up, the economic policy in the economic field has always been the focus of the economic circles and even the whole society, but the economic policy in the field of social development has not received enough attention; as a result, it not only affects the healthy development of various social undertakings, but also It also affects the entire process of modernization.Xie Sizhong devoted himself to the research and formulation of economic policies in the field of social development for 6 years while working in the research office of the State Council; he is not only a researcher and maker of economic policies in the field of social development, but also uses economic means to promote and regulate A pioneer in the healthy development of various social undertakings. In 1998, the new government of the State Council decided to select a group of vice-ministerial inspectors of the State Council from relevant departments to implement external supervision of large state-owned enterprises.After being democratically recommended by the Ministry of Construction in 1987, Xie Sizhong once again received a large number of votes when the State Council Research Office democratically recommended candidates for the State Council Inspector Special Commissioner; after organizational inspection, he was formally appointed by the State Council. On December 25, 1998, when Premier Zhu Ji had a meeting with more than a dozen newly-appointed inspectors of the State Council, including Xie Sizhong, he said: "The inspectors of the State Council are all strictly selected. You dare not say it is one in a hundred, but it can be said that it is one in ten. Comrade Bang Guo and I will check and review. Some are my old comrades in arms and my "friends"; some I am not familiar with, but I have listened carefully to all aspects. Reflected, I have read the resume at least twice. This is a politically reliable, strong combat effectiveness, practical and reliable team.”