Chapter 33 Chapter 7: A Great Responsibility from Heaven——7 History depends on merit and demerit

On March 27, 1998, at the Ninth National People's Congress, nominated by President Jiang Zemin and elected by the delegates, Zhu Rongji became Premier of the State Council. On June 6, two months after becoming premier, Zhu Rongji issued a State Council decree promulgating the implementation of the Grain Purchase Regulations. As early as four years ago in 1993, Zhu Rongji had intervened in the procurement of grain. The difference was that before, it was a notice, and failure to comply with it was only a matter of work attitude or understanding; this time it was an order from the State Council. Many regulations in the notice have been elevated to the level of law, and failure to implement is illegal.Moreover, this time the "Regulations" have specially added some rigid regulations. The purpose of formulating these new regulations is obviously to increase the enthusiasm of farmers to grow grain, to ensure the country's annual order demand of 100 billion catties of grain, and to Effective protection of the national food sector.Of course, its significance is far more than that, because the "Regulations" clearly stipulates that in addition to agricultural tax, when purchasing grain, "it is not allowed to accept the entrustment of any organization or individual to withhold or pay any taxes and fees."The "organizations" mentioned here obviously include governments at all levels; the "individuals" mentioned here naturally include leading cadres of the party and government.The new "Regulations" is undoubtedly intended to resolutely attack the growing phenomenon of ride-hailing charges from the "grain purchase site", so as to completely reduce the burden on farmers.

It can be said that the good intentions for formulating this "Regulation" are beyond doubt, but it is wishful thinking.Because the background of the collection of rural grassroots taxes and fees today is very complicated, such as the "coordinated funds and withdrawal of funds" mentioned in the "Regulations", which is exactly what the State Council officially required to collect from farmers in the past, and many of the fees It should have been paid by the state finance, and whether the state finance should give it or not has caused the burden on the peasants. Now these many very specific problems are avoided, and they are not solved fundamentally, but the township (town) Village cadres are not allowed to collect any taxes and fees other than agricultural tax at the purchase site. This actually pushes the rural grassroots government and village-level organizations to extremes—or they will only obey the law and refuse to implement the regulations in your "Regulations"; If it is to be implemented, the result can only be to force the lower levels to use more "detachments", "task teams" or "commandos", or even use judicial means, to go door-to-door and force people to take money.

What's more serious is that the "Grain Purchase Regulations" clearly and unequivocally pointed out that the purchase of grain can only be done through the national grain system, and it is required that the purchase of grain must be "account-to-household", and funds can only be "closed." , which has irreconcilable contradictions with the practice of rural tax and fee reforms being tried in various places. At that time, Hebei Province was planning to further expand the pilot reform of the public grain system to the whole province. As the moderator of this research group, Yang Wenliang was working hard on the "Seminar on the Reform Plan of the Public Grain System in Hebei Province" .When he understood the specific provisions of the "Regulations on the Purchase of Grain", it was like a slap in the face. He immediately realized that in the past five or six years, the main leaders of the three provincial party committees have paid a lot of attention to it. The painstaking reform of the public grain system is about to be discontinued; all the trials of tax and fee reforms in the country will also have to face the bad luck of being completely stopped in one morning.

Yang Wenliang sat down impatiently, and read and read the "Grain Purchase Regulations" repeatedly, trying to find words that were beneficial to the tax reform.Obviously, he could not find it, but he is still optimistic that, on the whole and in essence, the reform of the public grain system and the "Grain Purchase Regulations" are both aimed at regulating the burden on farmers and ensuring that the country has the necessary grain sources. The relationship is not mutually exclusive, either-or. So, he wrote a special report overnight to the Provincial Party Committee: "Pilot Program of Public Grain System Reform Should Continue".

But, except for tax reform enthusiasts like them, others don't see it that way.Not long after Yang Wenliang sent the special report, the Finance and Trade Department of the Hebei Provincial Government Office also wrote a contrary report to the provincial party secretary Cheng Weigao, the governor Ye Liansong, and the deputy secretary in charge Zhao Jinduo, pointing out: "The 'public grain system' and The practice of "replacing fees with taxes" pilot program does not comply with the specific provisions of the "Regulations on Grain Purchases", and also affects the closed operation of the Agricultural Development Bank's purchase funds. In view of the above situation, it is suggested that our province should follow the "Grain Purchase Regulations" issued by the State Council. Relevant regulations are enforced.”

In our country, under our special system, lower levels must obey higher levels, and the entire party must obey the central government.In this sense, the decree is still unimpeded.Because of this, the main person in charge of Hebei Province cannot and dare not not implement the "Regulations" of the central government. Therefore, they have to abandon the reform of the public grain system that has just been implemented. Zhao Jinduo, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, is also the head of the county-level comprehensive reform team in Hebei Province. He is very clear about the new atmosphere brought by the reform of the public grain system to the countryside. is extremely complex.Just a few days ago, he had just approved the word "agree" on the "Agenda of the Hebei Province Public Grain System Reform Program Seminar" drafted by Yang Wenliang, but now, he had to make the opposite decision.

Zhao Jinduo said at a later meeting: "The reform of the public grain system in Hebei Province can list ten and eight benefits, but the prohibition of withholding and payment of any taxes and fees except agricultural taxes is a rigid constraint. The "Regulations" are Regulations, it is not allowed to discount the implementation, we can only be consistent with the central government. However, the suspension of the reform of the public grain system does not mean that this reform is denied, it is only because it is in conflict with the "Regulations." Yang Wenliang attended the meeting, and Zhao Jinduo's explanation on behalf of the provincial party committee at the meeting, he heard clearly, but he seemed to have become more confused again.Since the reform of the public grain system has so many benefits and deserves to be fully affirmed, why must it be suspended?

Next, Ye Liansong, governor of the province, also criticized: "The entire province must implement the "Grain Purchase Regulations" of the State Council." Notification, execution according to law." On the day Ye Liansong issued the instruction, the Office of Comprehensive Reform, the Department of Finance, the Department of Grain, and the Agricultural Development Bank quickly issued a joint notice, requiring all localities to resolutely implement the "Regulations on Grain Purchase" promulgated by the State Council. Yang Wenliang almost went crazy. On the same day when the four units jointly issued the notice, he once again wrote to the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government, requesting urgent instructions from the central government on continuing the pilot reform of the public grain system.

Coincidentally, during this period, a research team from the State Planning Commission went to Hebei Province to learn about the purchase of summer grain, and wrote an investigation report to Wen Jiabao after returning.Wen Jiabao made the following comments in the investigation report: "The issue of the 'public grain system' can be included in the tax reform and continue to be studied. At present, the "Grain Purchase Regulations" should be uniformly implemented." Wen Jiabao's instruction is actually very clear, he said two meanings.As the Vice Premier of the State Council, he must emphasize the seriousness of the State Council Order issued by Premier Zhu Jiji and demand that the "Regulations" be resolutely implemented; He still fully affirmed the reform of the public grain system in Hebei Province. If we understand it carefully, we will find that his formulation of the two There is still a difference.He added the word "currently" before the sentence "should implement the "Grain Purchase Regulations", that is to say, he made a time limit, and when he mentioned the reform of taxes and fees, he asked for "continuing research."Therefore, at least it can be considered that Wen Jiabao advocates that the implementation of the current "Regulations" should not affect the experiment and exploration of far-reaching tax and fee reforms.

Regrettably, Governor Ye did not fully understand the spirit of Wen Jiabao's instructions, so he issued instructions with more stringent wording: "We must conscientiously implement the instructions of Vice Premier Jiabao. We must implement open purchases, account-to-household transactions, and no Quasi-rural cadres sit in the grain station to coordinate collection and withdrawal of funds, and the previous "public grain system" pilot counties uniformly implemented the "Grain Purchase Regulations." " So one morning, a vigorous reform of the public grain system that lasted five years and expanded to thirty-seven counties and cities disappeared completely from the horizon of Hebei Province.

At the same time, seven provinces across the country have developed to more than 60 pilot counties and cities for tax reform, and they have all been terminated. This news made Yang Wenliang very anxious. However, no matter how Yang Wenliang believed that the reform of the public grain system was to find a solution to the fundamental problem of farmers, it was very necessary to continue to experiment, but the reform was stopped after the promulgation of the "Grain Purchase Regulations". The reform of the public grain system was stopped, and problems followed.In some people's eyes, being announced to stop is tantamount to being resolutely denied, but as the actual person in charge of this research project, Yang Wenliang, the busy work of more than five years has been nothing but fussing! Some gossip followed, and some strange looks followed. Yang Wenliang was instantly besieged on all sides. In those unbearable days, Yang Wenliang had no choice but to reread Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour speeches over and over again.He stubbornly wanted to find the answer in Deng Xiaoping's southern tour speeches.He firmly believes that the tax and fee reform in rural areas will continue, because it has received the heartfelt support of the majority of farmers.He even believes that China has embarked on the road of no return to the market economy, so it should not continue to implement unified purchase and sales of grain, and gradually liberalize the grain market is a good strategy. How much he wanted to find a like-minded person to confide in, but who else could he find besides He Kaiyin?When he thought of He Kaiyin, he knew that Lao He's situation would definitely not be any better than his own, and his heart was filled with concern. He Kaiyin's situation at this time has indeed become very embarrassing.For ten years, for the reform of rural taxes and fees, he has experienced the hardships of life and the harshness of the world, but he has no complaints or regrets, and has always believed in Deng Xiaoping's teaching: "Don't argue, you are allowed to see, but you must resolutely try. Do it boldly." It has finally come to this day, and the reform has been widely welcomed by farmers in more than 60 counties in seven provinces, but now they have all died one after another. He really cannot accept this fact.The most unacceptable thing was that with the forced suspension of the tax reform, he found that the original situation had completely changed: the people who used to support warmly and greeted with smiles suddenly changed faces, as if they didn’t know him; Those who watched with cold eyes came out one after another to prove their foresight; those who originally held objections and were waiting to see a joke started to come out to "settle accounts after autumn", and put all kinds of shit hats on their heads.To say that his reform ideas are purely whimsical; to say that the articles he wrote is nonsense; to say that he has messed up the country's food policy and fiscal and taxation system; to say that he did all this for himself Show off, in order to deceive the world.What followed was that the manuscripts he wrote could no longer be printed in the provincial government office because no one signed for him; He participated in the review of senior professional titles that year and was awarded the title of "Zheng Gao" in the following year. Now that he has encountered salary reforms, no one has honored him, and he can only enjoy department-level treatment.What's even more puzzling is that when the provincial government office provided housing for cadres and workers, He Kaiyin scored the second highest score in the housing allocation department. However, every cadre in the general office now, including the Not long ago, all the young people enjoyed the housing of the government office, but he still lived in the embarrassing old house of the housing management bureau of the administrative management bureau. Mrs. Gu Xianxin, seeing that old He was preoccupied all day long, and walking on the street with his head hooked, he was afraid that something would happen to him, and even more afraid that he would go to some meeting, or go to some occasion, as in the past, he mobilized Lao He Learn to smoke and drink.Because, she heard people say that wine can relieve sorrow and smoke can help people think deeply. She only hopes that Lao He can spend this time safely. "Over the years, as a senior agronomist, you have often been approached by people asking you to provide technical guidance in this area. Instead of doing good things that save worry and money, you just want to drill into the thorn tree with your head bare. What are you trying to do? Nowadays, it’s hard to talk, so don’t talk about it, and don’t worry about reforms.” Gu Xianxin persuaded He Kaiyin. However, when he was impatient and depressed, he really accepted his wife's suggestion: smoking and drinking.Therefore, He Kaiyin, who never drank alcohol or smoked on weekdays, began to smoke cigarettes in a serious manner, drinking two cups of wine every night.Unexpectedly, after smoking and drinking, he discovered that tobacco and alcohol really worked, and his mood really calmed down. However, it didn't take long for his heart to surge again.He found that the tax reform in Anhui Province was not annihilated, and he became excited again when he discovered this. It turned out that Hui Liangyu, Governor of Anhui Province, wrote a report to the State Council in the name of the Anhui Provincial People's Government after the "Grain Purchase Regulations" came down, emphasizing that the Fuyang area of ​​Anhui Province is the first in the country to be registered by the State Council. In the rural policy pilot area, in order to explore new ways to reduce the burden on farmers, it is required to continue to implement the pilot reform of rural taxes and fees.In order to solve the problem of linking the tax reform and the "Regulations" promulgated by the State Council, the pilot project in Anhui decided to adjust the taxation based on cultivated land to pay per person. Because of Hui Liangyu's arguments, when rural tax and fee reforms across the country were stopped, Fuyang, Anhui, was alone, and the experimental work of tax reform did not stop for a day. With this kind of exciting news, He Kaiyin finally felt relieved, and what made him even more encouraged was that when he was 60 years old and should retire, Governor Hui Liangyu hired him as a counselor of the provincial government.That is to say, as long as he is in good health, he can work until he is seventy years old, which gives him ten years of time and a wider space for in-depth research on rural reform.While he was excited, he immediately started brewing a new plan: that is, to conduct a systematic study of our grain purchase policy today! Although this kind of research was a very sensitive and risky thing at the time, once he made up his mind, he did not care about his own life. He has long noticed that before the summer harvest in 1993, Zhu Rongji, who was still the vice premier of the State Council, issued a "Notice on Further Improving the Purchase of Summer Grain", which required that grain be purchased at a protective price.However, with the implementation of the tax-sharing system that began on January 1, 1994, it became difficult for all regions to implement this important measure aimed at protecting the interests of farmers and ensuring farmers' increased production and income.Because the policy stipulates that the central government sets prices, open purchases, and losses occur, they must be subsidized by the local government. The problem is that large grain-producing counties cannot even pay wages, so how can they have money to subsidize?Without subsidies, the document’s requirements for the food system are tantamount to nothing; the policy also stipulates that state-owned grain enterprises can only sell at a fair price, but how can China’s food system support so many idlers? ?The protection price stipulated by the policy, and its "protection" funds, are not directly "protected" to farmers who sell grain, but a considerable part is hunted away by illegal speculators or monopoly rent seekers.For the vast number of farmers, these policies are nothing more than painting cakes to satisfy their hunger, but instead mislead farmers to produce more food, and the food department monopolizes the market, which makes farmers suffer even more!Over the years, the growth rate of per capita net income of Chinese farmers has been declining year by year, and the growth rate of per capita net income has been lower than the growth rate of per capita burden. "These situations should be clear from the central government to the local government. If you don't know it, you can't justify it!" He Kaiyin found it hard to understand.This obviously unreasonable grain purchase control policy was only issued in the past as a "Notice", but this time it is the "Regulations" with legal force, which makes it a matter of course and beyond doubt! But He Kaiyin still expressed doubts about the "Regulations". He acknowledged that the Grain Purchase Regulations largely protected the interests of the state-owned grain sector.Taxes and fees, on this point, the tax reform and the "Regulations" are contradictory.However, he does not think that the pilot reform is wrong in this regard. On the contrary, it is this tax and fee reform that has touched the vested interests of the state-owned grain sector and promoted the reform of the grain purchase and sales system.In recent years, the majority of farmers have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the country's implementation of the low-price grain order system. To explore the tax reform that solves the fundamental problem of farmers' burden, it is reasonable to take the abolition of such an order system as an important measure of reform.Undoubtedly, such a reform experiment fundamentally solves the “hidden burden” borne by farmers for a long time, and at the same time cuts off a major way for the food system to seek sectoral interests.For a long time, some of our state-owned grain departments have relied on a management system that does not separate government from enterprises and integrates government and business. In terms of links, urban residents were harmed by arbitrarily apportioning costs and increasing grades and prices; in the use of loans, they misappropriated a large number of food purchase funds, or used under-collected ordered grains and over-charged negotiated grains to falsely report and falsely claim policy loans; In terms of financial settlement, deceitful tricks such as "level-to-negotiation, negotiation to level" were used to defraud the state's financial subsidies, and grain storage subsidies were withheld layer by layer.In short, what this reform reforms is the management system that integrates government and business in the state-owned grain sector and does not separate government and enterprises. One of the provisions of the reform is that "grain enterprises operate independently, are responsible for their own profits and losses, develop themselves, and bear their own risks, and no longer assume responsibility for any state responsibility. administrative functions, and the state does not interfere with its business operations”, forcing grain enterprises to switch their functions and go to the market. Since reform is a readjustment of interests, it is impossible to satisfy everyone in all sectors. He believes that China's rural reforms were launched without perfect theoretical and policy preparations.The first step of reform is basically carried out within the rural areas, with considerable independence. The main content of the reform is to abolish the people's commune system and implement household contract management, and we have a history of thousands of years of family management. Farmers have This kind of traditional consciousness, as long as the policy allows it to be practiced, every household of farmers will know it.But this time the reform is different. It is bound to go deep into many fields such as finance, finance, price, planning, materials, internal and external trade, etc., and it will involve the adjustment of a large number of deep-seated interest structures between urban and rural areas, as well as between departments. An unprecedentedly complex situation.The important content of the second stage of reform is to establish a modern market entity and market system on the basis of the transformation of the business entity. Our history has no such memory of how to establish it. Farmers don't know it, and our government doesn't know it either.Therefore, many of the problems we face today are super-experienced, and cannot be grasped based on past experience. In this sense, if we define the previous reforms as outdated, then the new round of reforms should be considered For innovation, that is, organizational innovation and system innovation, it is laying a solid foundation for market operation. China has a population of 1.2 billion, and the per capita is only one mu and one cent of land. There will never be a problem of food surplus. Why is it that in developed countries, there is no problem of selling food when the average person has 1,000 kilograms of grain, while the per capita in our country is only 400. Will there be a surplus of food in kilograms?This requires us not only to analyze from the aspects of food production, distribution, circulation and consumption, but also to find the reasons from our ideas and food policies. We often emphasize: "Food is a special commodity that is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood." Starting from this premise, it is often concluded that "government control" should be concluded, and food is regarded as a unified control product, but at the same time it should be seen that , Grain has its particularity, but it is a commodity after all, and it should still be regulated mainly by the market. The government is only a question of how to regulate the market.Besides, as far as the whole country is concerned, 68% of the per capita net income of farmers comes from agriculture, and the income from agricultural income accounts for 52%. It is very important, and to increase the income of grain production, all the researches are showing that there are only two paths of high quality and high price and industrialized operation of structural adjustment, but many current policies have actually made these two paths not fundamental Death control is also the majority of death control.It can be said that without touching the profit distribution structure in the existing grain system, increasing farmers' income will always be empty talk. After a few days of painful thinking, He Kaiyin worked hard and came up with a heavy article "To Completely Solve the Problems of the Grain Purchase and Sales System, We Must Carry out a Comprehensive and Supporting Reform of Agriculture, Finance, Grain, Price, Tax, and Fee Linkage", and decided to start again. Admonish the central government. To be outspoken and unscrupulous is the work of a magnanimous gentleman! Through the ups and downs of the tax and fee reform in the past few years, He Kaiyin has indeed comprehended the wise saying of Mao Zedong: "Don't worry about China's affairs, take your time." The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, everyone knows that it has epoch-making significance in Chinese history.However, we really should not forget that it was at such a great meeting that the "Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Concerning Several Issues Concerning Accelerating Agricultural Development" (draft), which was "approved in principle", also clearly stipulated that "it is not allowed to divide the fields and work alone. Household production contracting is not allowed”, but the great reform in China’s rural areas later achieved a major breakthrough in the “big contract” with the essence of “household contracting of production” and “dividing land to work alone”. Therefore, when the spirit of that meeting was conveyed , a farmer in Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County said sadly: "I look forward to it in the morning, and I look forward to it in the evening. I look forward to two 'don't do it'!" The Third Plenary Session was "not allowed", and the Fourth Plenary Session was changed to "Don't". "Don't" is undoubtedly much more lenient than "not allowed". Strict prohibition has turned into advice, into "no criticism, no struggle, and no forced correction of those who have already engaged in household production contracting."Later, the Central Document No. 31 loosened the "don'ts": "Single households in deep mountainous areas can do it", which opened the door; when the Central Document No. 75 was released, its scope was further expanded, and again It has become a "three-dependence region can do it". Finally, three years after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, after many iterations and dozens of revisions, the Minutes of the National Rural Work Conference, as the crystallization of collective wisdom, was sent to the highest decision-making level of the Central Committee; first, the Secretariat of the Central Committee Discussed, then studied by the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, and finally passed by the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. On January 1, 1982, this "Summary" was issued as the No. "The current implementation of various responsibility systems is the production responsibility system of the socialist collective economy", "and, no matter what form it takes, as long as the masses do not demand changes, they should not be changed." This is the characteristic of China! In a reply letter to Yang Wenliang later, He Kaiyin not only reviewed the tortuous course of China's rural reform, but also tried to follow the original rhyme of Yang Wenliang's poems, and a poem to express his ambition. He likes the lofty sentiments revealed in Yang Wenliang's poems, especially the two lines "success or failure depend on practice, pros and cons are right and wrong, ask the masses", which he thinks can be called a magical pen. Yes, whether the people like it or not, agree with it or not, whether they are satisfied or not, this should always be the starting point and final destination of all our work! On agricultural and rural issues, if the peasants support it, the policy is right; if the peasants oppose it, the policy is wrong.What are the things in the world?If the vast majority of the common people welcome it, they will applaud it; otherwise, they will not applaud it. He told Yang Wenliang that his latest article analyzing the grain purchase and sales system and hoping for comprehensive reform has been sent to the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and the leading comrades of the State Council through Xinhua News Agency in the form of the highest internal reference. He Kaiyin's review of the history of the "big contract" and the news that Anhui will continue to carry out the pilot reform of rural taxes and fees have become a stimulant for Yang Wenliang, who is deeply depressed. On July 8, 1998, Yang Wenliang couldn't hold back his excitement, and directly wrote a report to the Party Central Committee and the State Council calling for the continuation of the reform of rural taxes and fees.