Chapter 29 Chapter 7: A Great Mission From Heaven——3 It is different whether to change or not to change

On December 3, 1993, the sixteenth day of the tax and fee reform in Taihe County, Anhui Province, the Comprehensive Reform Office of Hebei Province and the Zhengding County Government jointly held a "Pilot Project of Public Grain System Reform" in Beijing. seminar". It can be said that this is the first theoretical research conference on rural tax and fee reform in Chinese history.Its high specifications and great influence are unprecedented.Relevant leaders and famous experts from the Central Political Research Office, the State Council Research Office, the State Council Development Research Center, the State Restructuring Commission, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Ministry of Domestic Trade were invited to attend the meeting.

At the seminar, everyone gave a very high evaluation to the pilot reform of the public grain system in Hebei Province.There is no doubt that the impact of the seminar on the central government and the organs directly under the state is far greater than its theoretical research gains. The new year has just arrived. On January 10, 1994, the pilot reform of the public grain system in Hebei Province quickly expanded from three townships in Zhengding County to 184 in 26 counties and cities in the whole province. Villages and towns, including Zhengding, Ningpu, Gucheng, Xinle and Cangxian, are all rolled out across the county.For a time, the heat wave of the public grain system reform rushed and boiled among the endless fields on the north bank of the Yellow River; it brought vitality to this important grain and cotton production area of ​​our country!

Regrettably, the rural tax and fee reform that originated in Anhui has encountered a different fate in Anhui at this time.Fu Xishou, Governor of Anhui Province, suddenly made the decision to ask Taihe County to immediately stop the pilot reform of taxes and fees.This decision came so suddenly that many people were confused whether it was the governor's personal opinion or the background of the central government. When He Kaiyin first heard the news, he couldn't even believe it.Because he has been in hotline contact with Yang Wenliang, Hebei Province is obviously in full swing, and banning this experiment is obviously not what the central government intends.

However, the Governor’s decision to immediately stop the tax reform pilot program is undoubtedly well-founded. Needless to say, it is the same reason that the Guoyang County People’s Congress Standing Committee decided to terminate the tax reform of Xinxing Town, that is, this reform It is illegal because the current agricultural tax system is based on the "Regulations on Agricultural Tax of the People's Republic of China".Although the "Regulations" were promulgated in 1958, China has undergone earth-shaking changes over the past 30 years. This agricultural tax system that is incompatible with today has long been full of disadvantages, but the "Regulations" of that year have not changed for a day. If it is abolished, it will have the effect of law one day, and this tax system will still be protected by law.

We were unable to learn the real reason for Governor Fu’s sudden decision during the interview, but this extraordinary decision is a blow to everyone who enthusiastically supports the reform of Taihe County, especially the Taihe people who are undergoing reform. ! People are confused, shocked, anxious, deplored, but helpless. Many people also raised questions behind their backs: If we dare not change the past and make new ones, and forge ahead, can the countryside still develop?In other words, is there still hope for Chinese agriculture, and Chinese farmers? He Kaiyin felt that it was necessary to stand up and argue.He distributed copies of the relevant instructions issued by the Henan Provincial Party Committee Secretary and Governor, the two Hebei Provincial Party Secretary and the two Provincial Governors to the main party and government leaders of Anhui Province.

At this time, Wang Zhaoyao, member of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and executive vice governor, stood up and spoke. Wang Zhaoyao approached Lu Rongjing, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, to state his opinion.He said: "The provincial government approved the rural tax and fee reform in Taihe County, and it has been issued. If you deny it now, isn't it a slap in the face? How will the provincial government work in the future if the order is changed day by day? What's more, the rural tax and fee reform What are they doing in other provinces!"

Of course, Lu Rongjing knew that the reform of Taihe was carried out with the support of Wang Zhaoyao, and his opinion was not unreasonable. However, Fu Xishou wanted to stop the reform of Taihe because he was protecting the tax law and also for work considerations. Reason, but also has a legal basis.So he said: "If there is no document to go on, if you don't do it, you won't do it. Since the provincial government has already issued a document, let's continue to work on it. Let's see the effect after autumn." The secretary of the provincial party committee saved enough face for the governor and the vice-governor in charge of agriculture.Although the words are relatively mild, they are finalized after all. Therefore, the reform of rural taxes and fees in Taihe County can continue.

After autumn, the situation changed dramatically, and Fu Xishou had lost his right to speak on the reform of Taihe County.He was dismissed from the position of Governor of Anhui Province. The news came very suddenly. On that day, he had just returned from a visit to Europe and the United States, and he was still at Hefei Luogang Airport. .It is said that this is because the cadres and masses in Anhui had too many opinions on him when he presided over the work of the provincial government.On this day, the central government sent Hui Liangyu, who knew Chinese farmers and was more familiar with Chinese agriculture and rural areas, to Anhui as acting governor.

Anyone who knows Hui Liangyu's experience knows that since he graduated from an agricultural school and was assigned to the Agricultural Bureau of Yushu County, Jilin Province, he has never been far away from the word "agricultural" for the next 30 years.From the secretary of the commune, the director of the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, to the director of the Rural Political Research Office of the Provincial Party Committee, until he served as the deputy director of the Central Political Research Office, in charge of rural policy research, he can be said to be a qualified agricultural expert.

As soon as Hui Liangyu arrived in Anhui, he greatly appreciated the reform of rural taxes and fees in Taihe County; in February of the following year, after officially taking office as the governor of Anhui Province, he held the first governor's office meeting and made the first The decision of the Provincial Government, the "No. 1 Document" issued, is to quickly spread the reform experience of Taihe County to more than 20 counties and cities on both sides of the Huaihe River! In fact, there is no need to "see the effect after autumn" as Lu Rongjing, the secretary of the provincial party committee, said. Before the end of autumn, the noon season of that year will already be known.Since the reform of rural taxes and fees in Taihe County, it only took half a year to create the biggest miracle since the county was founded forty-five years: 31 townships in the county, 9,168 The village group and 353,459 peasant households collected all the agricultural tax in the afternoon season in just five days!

Looking at the long snake formed in front of the gate of the grain station by the farmers who have not seen them for many years, many village cadres were so excited that their noses became sore and their eye sockets became hot. They said: "In the past, there were many documents asking farmers for money. There are many departments that ask farmers for money, many projects that ask farmers for money, and the amount of money that is asked for money from farmers. There are so many that even us cadres are confused. Now it’s all right, everyone knows whether to pay more or less; We are busy all year round, urging money, urging food, urging life, and coming to the door on the night of the New Year's Eve, today we are completely relieved, and we are clean again; from collecting grain to paying bills, the cadres do not touch money, and they are even more innocent!" The cadres are clear, clean, and innocent; the peasants are also relieved and satisfied because the tax is levied once and the tax is cleared for three years. Although the autumn crops suffered from drought this year, it only took fifteen days to collect the agricultural tax! This year, the county collected a total of 65,277,000 kilograms of grain, which was 17,747,000 kilograms more than the original state order!If the price factor is deducted, the extra-tax burden of farmers has been reduced by more than half compared with the past.In particular, the whole county has boldly liberalized the grain market and prices. After farmers keep enough rations and seeds, the commodity grain alone will increase farmers' income by 150 million yuan, and the county's per capita income will reach 120 million yuan. ten yuan! In the year before the reform, there were as many as 93 cases in Taihe County, involving more than 500 people, who reported the burden of farmers to the party committees and governments at all levels. There are 19 natural villages with a population of 1.32 million farmers, and no one has petitioned because of the "overburden of farmers". When it comes to petitioning, Mark Zhong of Mazhuang, Mawang Village, Ruanqiao Township, was well-known in the early days.In 1993 alone, Ma Kezhong and his son sued twice from the county to the province, and directly to the Office of Reducing Farmers' Burdens of the State Council because of the heavy burden and the collection of special product taxes.After the reform of taxes and fees, every family has a "Supervision Card", and every household has a clear account. Mark Zhong led the family to work boldly and meticulously. good harvest.After he took the lead to complete the task of handing over, he said with a smile: "Agricultural taxes and fees are collected, and everything is kept in the open. No one dares to collect messy stalls and spend money indiscriminately. Cadres will not be corrupt, and grain stations will not lower prices. Farmers have lightened their burdens and increased their incomes." , where else to visit!" Of course, it's not easy.It is indeed hard-won for Taihe County to achieve such gratifying results.In the year when they started the tax and fee reform, it was catching up with the reform of the national tax and local tax sharing system implemented nationwide.After the centralization of financial and economic power was implemented, the benefits of the central government were immediate: in 1993, the central fiscal revenue was only 95.7 billion, and in 1994 it soared to 290.6 billion, almost an increase of nearly 200 billion; and in 1993, the local fiscal revenue was more than 339 billion, which was reduced to 231.1 billion in the year of restructuring.This is only the case in terms of fiscal revenue.After the restructuring, the expenditures of the central and local governments were exactly the opposite. But it suddenly increased by 70.8 billion to 403.8 billion, which is almost twice the central government's budget! In this kind of tax reform, one plus one minus, all the finances in the local government budgets have become "food finances", and in many places it is difficult to guarantee the expenditure of administrative expenses and headcount expenses. The government's financial life is difficult, and it can no longer pass this difficulty on to the farmers to shake its determination to carry out rural tax and fee reforms.The Taihe County Party Committee and the county government judged the situation and promptly adopted the method of "reducing swelling and reducing staff" to vigorously reduce the number of offices and staff. In the second year, it will be reduced again.At the same time, the county has carried out the reform of the grain purchase and sales method and the rural financial system, carried out a series of supporting reforms such as agricultural structure adjustment, village cadre labor insurance, scientific farming and strengthening market construction, etc., and tried every means to mobilize the majority of cadres and farmers. Farmers' enthusiasm for production. However, during this period, there were many things that the Taihe County Party Committee and the county government could not solve by themselves.Your county’s tax reform has closed all the "loopholes" that increase the additional burden on farmers, but in the second year of their reform pilot, the State Council has clearly stipulated that farmers should increase the "double-based education fee" by 25 yuan per capita. The agencies have also issued their own "standard" projects one after another, only for the tasks and not for the funds. These are all "red-headed documents", and the following must be implemented. It is impossible for Taihe County not to implement these rigid regulations from the central authority, so it has to make corresponding adjustments to the original reform plan, and has to concentrate on increasing such Some new collection items, including education, health, armed forces, archives, and statistics, make the promise of "one-time collection, one-time tax settlement, and no change for three years" discounted. However, even if this is the case, the tax and fee reform in rural areas is quite different from whether it is reformed or not.The gratifying changes in Taihe County have aroused great repercussions in the vast rural areas where the burden on farmers is increasing and the relationship between cadres and the masses is becoming increasingly tense.Mengcheng, Lixin, Linquan and other counties around Taihe have not only followed suit, but Xinxing Town of Guoyang County, which has been making reforms secretly, no longer has to dodge. At this time, the four major groups in the two counties of Yingshang and Yingshang also saw clearly the benefits of the tax reform, and worked together to carry out the reform experiment of "rectifying taxes and eliminating fees". In Hefei, the provincial capital, there is a person who has been worried about the tax and fee reform in Taihe County.Before and after the noon harvest, he went to Taihe County.This person is Zhang Guangchun, the director of the Agricultural Taxation Department of the Provincial Finance Department who once reprimanded He Kaiyin for "making random ideas".He was worried that such reforms would mess up the collection of agricultural taxes, and that he, the head of the agricultural taxation department, would end up being difficult to explain. He went to Taihe County to find out the truth in fear.As a result, he unexpectedly discovered that his previous worry was groundless, and his hanging heart fell to the ground.Thinking about how impulsively he was at the demonstration meeting, and accused He Kaiyin by name, Zhang Guangchun felt really sorry for him.However, he is still an open-minded person after all. He has opinions and opinions, so he says them to his face, and he never hides his opinions. Now that he knows that he is wrong, he is also a straightforward person who corrects his mistakes when he returns to the provincial capital. Afterwards, everyone advertised: "Taihe's method is good!" News of the reform of agricultural taxes and fees in Taihe County, Anhui Province spread like wildfire. It didn't take long for someone from the Agricultural Finance Department of the Ministry of Finance to visit Taihe County.They first went to Hefei, the provincial capital, and only got in touch with the Agricultural Tax Office of the Financial Department within the system; when they arrived in Taihe County, they did not disturb the county leaders, and did not say hello to the township chief, but only asked the county finance bureau to send someone to send a car , specially go to remote and poor places, go directly to villages and households, and conduct face-to-face investigations with farmers.By doing this, they obviously want to understand the real situation more objectively.They might not believe what other people said, but the testimony of Zhang Guangchun, who accompanied him, played a big role.Along the way, Zhang Guangchun kept promoting the benefits of tax reform.He said that the burden on farmers has been reduced by more than half compared to the past, and the finances have increased instead; As a matter of fact, the agricultural tax is paid quickly, and there is not a single household in the county that fails to pay. This is something that was unimaginable in the past. Not long after this, Xu Guohong, director of the State Council's Office for Alleviating Farmers' Burdens, and his party also came to Fuyang to inspect the work.After learning about the reform of the agricultural tax and fee system in this area, they gave a high evaluation, suggested that the prefectural committee and administrative office should sum up the experience well, and said that they would pay close attention to the progress of the reform here in the future. Wu Zhaoren, the deputy director of the Provincial Agricultural Economic Commission who had personally finalized the reform implementation plan for Taihe County, was itching to hear the exciting news from Taihe County during this period. On this day, he happily Ma Qirong, deputy director of the Provincial Burden Reduction Office, was invited to Fuyang first, and then drove to Taihe together with Wang Chunkui, director of the regional agricultural committee. In order to understand the social situation and public opinion more truly, they also went beyond the county and township cadres and surveyed more than 20 farmers in the three townships, which can be regarded as the last "private visit".As a result, wherever he went, every farmer he came into contact with, almost unanimously praised this method of tax and fee reform.Wu Zhaoren was greatly moved by this.After returning home, when he wrote the preface to the book "New Exploration of Rural Reform", he wrote emotionally: "For so many years, in my working memory, farmers have expressed full support for a certain policy, except for contracting production to households. , probably this time.” He summed up the "six satisfactions" for the rural tax and fee reform in Taihe County: "The grain station is satisfied, the order task is completed smoothly, and the main channel has mastered sufficient grain sources; Settlement reduces currency issuance and circulation, and does not issue "IOUs"; grassroots cadres are satisfied, they save a lot of time and energy, and avoid the trouble of friction between cadres and the masses. Of course, the most important thing is the satisfaction of the farmers. The inspection tasks in the afternoon and autumn seasons were completed within a week, and no household appealed due to burden problems.The Office of the National Rural Reform Pilot Area, the Office of Reducing Farmers’ Burdens under the State Council, relevant departments directly under the provincial government, regional burden reduction offices, and the Reform Experimental Office have sent people nine times to conduct in-depth investigations. The conclusion is always the same: “Farmers are satisfied.” Wu Zhaoren also seriously thought about the reasons for the success of this reform: "Now there are many good policies, good ideas, and good designs. The difficulty lies in the implementation, which is often out of shape due to ineffective work during the implementation. Taihe The tax and fee reform in the county is not only carefully designed, but also perfectly implemented. Why is this so? The key is that the county party committee and the county government attach great importance to it, and the six major teams work in unison; all departments of the county and township work together; Significant experience, whether any job can be done well, I think the trick is here." After summing up the main experience of the Taihe reform, Wu Zhaoren still felt that he still had more to say, and wrote another essay with a clear title: "Applause for the "Second Big Contract"". On December 18, 1994, Jiang Chunyun, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and vice premier of the State Council, led comrades in charge of ten ministries and commissions to Anhui for inspection. After the big change that came, he commented happily: "You have made breakthroughs in rural reform here, and have explored successful experiences in several aspects. The reform of the land contract system has been done very well. It has solved the problem of stabilizing the contract system, mobilized farmers' enthusiasm for production, and improved land production. In particular, the reform of the tax and fee system has solved a problem that both farmers and grassroots cadres in rural areas have a headache. It not only reduces the burden on farmers, but also improves the relationship between cadres and the masses. It has not only economic significance, but also political significance!" Unexpectedly, at this time, Li Yanling, the Vice Minister of Finance who accompanied the inspection, suddenly interrupted Jiang Chunyun's words.He said: "It is unreasonable to include the special agricultural product tax in the agricultural tax here. It should be collected according to the facts. They are wrong to do so." Jiang Chunyun heard this, and immediately said bluntly: "I know this. There is nothing wrong with what they did. I have done it at the grassroots level. Most places are split evenly. Stop talking about that.” Of course, it is impossible for Li Yanling to continue arguing with Jiang Chunyun. Since Jiang Chunyun said "you should stop talking about this", it is inconvenient for Li Yanling to say it again. On that day, Jiang Chunyun was in a very good mood. As the leader of the Central Rural Work Leading Group and the vice premier in charge of agricultural work, he saw the breakthrough progress in the reform work in Anhui's rural areas, and happily said to Governor Hui Liangyu: "Agricultural tax The reform of the fee system is a major breakthrough in deepening rural reform, and you must boldly promote the pilot work of this reform!" Yang Yongzhe, the deputy director of the Research Office of the State Council who accompanied him, also excitedly said: "Now there is a saying that the reform in China's rural areas has stopped in the past few years. This time I came to Anhui and felt that it was not the case at all. Fuyang The reform of the land contract system and the reform of the rural tax and fee collection methods are very distinctive and very effective. These are of guiding significance to the whole country!" Soon after Jiang Chunyun and his party left, Hui Liangyu made a clear request at the governor's office meeting: the area along the Huaihe River north of the Jianghuai watershed, especially the Huaibei area, must comprehensively implement the reform of the rural tax system. Since then, this reform has quickly gone out of Taihe and Fuyang, and it has blossomed everywhere in more than 20 counties (cities) in Anhui. At this time in China, the reform of rural taxes and fees has become a hot spot that the whole society pays attention to.It is not only unstoppable in the three provinces of Anhui, Hebei, and Henan, but also quickly spread to more than 50 counties (cities) in the seven provinces of Hunan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, and Gansu. It was at this time that the "News from Outside the Province" compiled and published by the General Office of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee cheered: "The reform of the agricultural tax system has shown the trend of 'a single spark can start a prairie fire'!"