Chapter 35 Chapter 8: Breaking the topic——1 The late "news"

An unprecedented propaganda and mobilization campaign appeared in the shortest time in the history of Anhui Province. The Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government printed and distributed "A Letter to the Peasants of the Province" to 13 million rural households in the province, and posted the "Notice on Carrying out Rural Tax and Fee Reform" in 350,000 villages and villager groups. ", the party's policies quickly entered thousands of households. It can be said that its momentum is so large and overwhelming that this kind of scene has never appeared in Anhui since the reform and opening up more than 20 years ago.

Immediately afterwards, the Provincial Party Committee dispatched 365 cadres from various departments and agencies to form 85 inspection teams, and went to the north and south of the Yangtze River, Changhuai River, to preach the significance of tax and fee reform, explain the tax and fee reform policy, Supervise and inspect the implementation of tax and fee reforms in various regions. This time Anhui's province-based reform pilot program was determined by the State Council Rural Tax and Fee Reform Working Group.In summary, there are roughly four sentences: three cancellations, one phase-out, two adjustments, and one reform.The specific content is: cancel the current township overall planning fee levied according to a certain percentage of farmers’ per capita income in the previous year, cancel administrative fees and government funds and fund-raising collected specifically for farmers, such as rural education fundraising, and cancel the slaughter tax; Time, gradually reduce until all unified labor accumulation workers and volunteer workers are cancelled; adjust agricultural tax, adjust agricultural special product tax policy; reform the method of collection and use of village retention.

The program is simply "fees to taxes." The original "township overall planning", that is, the rural education surcharges, family planning, preferential treatment, militia training, and rural road construction fees at the township and village levels, were included in the agricultural tax after the reform. The title of township overall planning was cancelled; the original "village retention", that is, management fees, public welfare funds, and provident funds, were three funds that were allocated by the village level. , while the management fee and public welfare fund are changed to agricultural tax surcharges.

In order to make it easier for the majority of farmers to understand and remember, it can be summarized in eight words: "One positive and one attached, one discussion for one matter." "Positive" means the regular tax of agricultural tax; The ratio shall not exceed 20% of the regular agricultural tax.The funds needed for the establishment of collective production and public welfare undertakings in the village are all decided by the villagers' assembly through democratic discussion under the practice of "one matter, one discussion", and it is stipulated that this fund should not exceed 15 yuan per person per year.

It should be said that the reform plan introduced this time with the first goal of reducing the burden on farmers has brought most of the "coordinated withdrawal" items that used to be administrative fees into the tax track, changing "fees" to "agricultural tax" Or "agricultural tax surcharge", which makes the original general administrative behavior have the nature of collecting taxes according to law. Those who are not in this case and cannot follow the arbitrary fees, apportionments, and fund-raising will lose their legitimacy. It is no longer law-abiding or unlawful for farmers to pay or not, so they can justifiably refuse to pay.Besides, this time there is an unprecedented publicity campaign, and the strong promotion of the linkage from top to bottom also forces the rural cadres to administer according to the law, which creates a good social environment for reducing the burden on farmers.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the reform pilot work, the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress also took action.With great enthusiasm, they conducted a comprehensive and thorough clean-up of the local regulations formulated or approved in the past.They have revised all the various regulations since the reform and opening up that are inconsistent with the spirit of the tax reform or the policy of reducing the burden on farmers, or simply declared them invalid. The Office of the Provincial Leading Group for Rural Tax and Fee Reform, the Office of the Provincial Leading Group for the Supervision and Management of Farmers' Burdens, and the Provincial Agriculture-related Cases Office also jointly issued a "Letter to Friends of Farmers in the Whole Province".The agricultural tax and agricultural special product tax, agricultural tax surcharge and agricultural special product tax surcharge, as well as the reform policy of "one case, one discussion" financing and "two industries" were publicized in detail, and the administrative fees related to farmers were further announced one by one.In the end, they limited the scope of allowed charges to ten items, including primary and secondary school fees, family planning fees, agricultural machinery supervision fees, marriage registration fees, and housing construction fees, and the figures for each item of fees were also stipulated in very specific terms.For example, when building a house, except for the land certificate that allows a fee of five yuan per certificate, all other administrative fees for building houses for farmers are cancelled; The fee for the paperback marriage certificate is two yuan, and the hardcover is nine yuan. Whether the farmer uses the paperback or the hardcover is voluntarily chosen by the parties concerned. Any other fees are not charged, let alone forcibly promoting services such as gifts, promotional materials, wedding photos, etc.

In "A Letter to Friends of Farmers in the Whole Province", the three authoritative departments also disclosed their respective reporting telephone numbers, so that farmers can have peace of mind and have amulets. Needless to say, this policy of benefiting the people was quickly warmly welcomed by the majority of farmers.They understand it, they understand it, they know their rights and the ways to protect them, so they all applaud and tell everyone. In Xiaogang Village, Fengyang County, we interviewed Yan Hongchang, one of the leaders of the "big dry contract" at that time. When talking about the changes brought about by the tax and fee reform to farmers, he said excitedly that this year, for Xiaogang He said that it was a difficult time. Drought hit when we sowed in spring, and floods happened when we harvested in autumn. Otherwise, the masses really don't know how to live their lives!

Long before Anhui Province became a pilot province, when Hui Liangyu was the governor, Anhui developed to more than 20 counties and cities along the Huaihe River on the basis of the original reform pilot in Fuyang area. Now the scope of reform in these counties and cities Further broadening, the connotation has become more colorful, and the burden on farmers has been reduced to a greater extent.Among them, the reform in Huaiyuan County has been affirmed by high-level officials. In the past, most of the 26 townships in Huaiyuan County had repeated petitions due to the burden of farmers. In 1998, there were 289 cases (times), which were called "the first petition in Anhui". Big County".In 1999, the entire county began to carry out pilot reforms, and the number of petitions caused by farmers' burdens dropped to five (times) that year.

This pilot project is the second round of reform in Huaiyuan County, and the effect of reducing the burden will be more obvious. On the morning of September 21, 2000, a reporter from Southern Weekend walked into the Songzhuang village group of Linzhuang Village, Baoji Town, Huaiyuan County. Song Jiaquan, a 37-year-old villager, was sifting sesame seeds in his yard.Although Songzhuang and Xiaogang Village in Fengyang County were hit by spring drought and autumn flood that year, the harvest was lower than in previous years, but the bearded Song family seemed to be in a good mood.The four members of the Song family manage four acres of land. In the first half of the year, they planted all wheat. After the noon harvest, they planted two acres of peanuts and two acres of corn. They also planted some cotton seeds and sesame seeds.The yield of wheat per mu is about 650 catties, and a total of 2,600 catties has been collected. Based on the purchase price of 53 yuan per hundred catties, the total is 1,378 yuan; two acres of peanuts cost 1,000 catties. The total is about 1,000 yuan; two acres of corn is 1,100 catties, which is about 500 yuan.His family's annual net income from farming is about 2,320 yuan.At the beginning of June, Song Jiaquan received a tax payment notice clearly stated: According to his family's arable land area, taxable regular production, tax rate and this year's grain purchase price, the agricultural tax of 178 yuan and 87 cents should be paid. , the agricultural tax surcharge is thirty-five yuan seventy-seven cents, and the two items are added together, and the total is two hundred and fourteen sixty-four cents. Including the "one positive one attached, one issue one discussion" of the tax reform, it is less than two hundred and twenty yuan.The pooling fund was cancelled; the agricultural special product tax was also collected according to the principle of "no repeated collection, low or high". After paying the tax on the food, it becomes easy.

He told the reporter that the four members of his family would have to pay 600 yuan for the messy taxes and fees set by the towns and villages a few years ago. Most of the names have never been heard of. He is a farmer. How do you know which is true and which is false?It's unbearable. Zhu Xingnian, the mayor of Baoji Town, also said in an interview with reporters that the burden of the Song family has dropped from 600 yuan to the current 212 yuan. This is not only a reduction in quantity, but also a qualitative change. "In the past, administrative means were used to charge fees, which was disorderly. Now, taxes are collected according to the law, and farmers are easy to monitor. Random fees have no name and basis. As long as they are implemented carefully, the burden on farmers can be fundamentally reduced."

After a cold rain in the twelfth lunar month of 2001, we also walked into Baoji Town and met the mayor Zhu Xingnian.He is a native of Meiqiao Township in this county. He has worked as a private teacher for six years. In 1984, when he was 25 years old, he became the deputy head of the township. Afterwards, he served as a leader in four townships for 17 years.When we saw him, he was sitting comfortably on the sofa in the office drinking tea while looking at the documents sent down from above.When it came to burden reduction and tax reform, he happily opened up the chatterbox.He said that it was almost the end of the new year. In the past, who would have dared to stay in the office so leisurely and drink tea calmly at such times in the past?Not to mention tired and broken legs, agricultural incidents are the most likely to occur. Sometimes, even the hired "grain harvesting team" can't do it. When necessary, the police station has to play a bad face.It's all right now, the township cadres have been loosened, and farmers no longer have to worry about the "grain collection team" who yells and shouts at the door to pick up grain and move cabinets to pull animals.The farmer's fields are easier to grow, and the cadres can free up their hands to do some real things for the farmers. On the day we went, He Yun, secretary of the party committee of Baoji Town, had just been transferred from Changfen Town. This was his first day of work in Baoji Town.He Yun and Zhu Xingnian vividly told us a good story about Vice Premier Wen Jiabao's investigation in Huaiyuan. On April 12, 2000, just over a month after Anhui implemented the reform of rural taxes and fees in accordance with the deployment of the central government, Wen Jiabao came to Huaiyuan County, "the largest county in Anhui to petition" Check it out.Although Wen Jiabao came suddenly, the local party committee and government made careful arrangements.That afternoon, the car departed from Bengbu, an important town on the Beijing-Puzhou Railway, and drove into the road to Baoji Town, Huaiyuan County through the five-fork intersection next to the Guohe River.Seeing that he was about to reach the ground of Baoji, Wen Jiabao's car deliberately left behind. Then, unexpectedly, the front of the car turned suddenly, and got off the road, heading straight to Changhu Village, Feihe Township, where no arrangements were made.He wanted to "surprise check" on the progress of the rural tax and fee reform there. In Changhu Village, Feihe Township, after Wen Jiabao made a detailed investigation, he felt really good, so he returned to the road.Unexpectedly, after the car was not far away, Wen Jiabao found a simple machine farming path on one side of the road, so he asked the driver to turn down again, and then drove straight forward until he arrived at the Linzhuang Village interviewed by the Southern Weekly reporter. Songzhuang villagers group. Maybe it's because he has worked in the geological department at the grassroots level for seventeen years, and has cultivated a pair of good feet all year round; maybe it's because he still often goes deep into the front line after he is in a high position. Come to the soles of your feet.After getting off the car at the village head of Linzhuang, he walked quickly into the village, just like a regular customer there, greeted the villagers warmly, stopped casually to chat with the fellow villagers, or just left the host house and entered the west house , he wants to see is believing. Talking about the scene of accompanying Wen Jiabao that day, He Yun couldn't help being awed.He said that on April 13, the county originally arranged for Wen Jiabao to go to Changfen Town.When the car passed Wangzhuang, Wen Jiabao suddenly yelled "Stop" again, and as soon as the car stopped, he jumped off and walked fast. At that time, He Yun was still the secretary of Changfen Town. In order to keep up with him, he actually had to trot all the way, and he was sweating all over. It should be said that Changfen is a relatively affluent town in Huaiyuan County. Wen Jiabao entered Wangzhuang Village, but whoever's house went into another's house, and whoever was not dressed well was asked to investigate.The pre-organized symposium in the town was in vain, but in the village committee of Wangzhuang, Wen Jiabao held a heart-to-heart discussion with farmers that he personally presided over.He asked everyone to talk freely, to tell the truth, to choose the truth. He was very satisfied with the results of the investigation.He is convinced that the tax and fee reforms in the countryside are indeed reducing the burden on farmers in this major grain-producing county and "big petition county". In the first year of comprehensive implementation of the reform of rural taxes and fees, the Audit Office of Anhui Province conducted a survey on the 2000 tax reform situation of 85 townships (towns) in 62 counties (cities, districts) in 17 municipalities directly under the central government. Audit carefully.The results show that the per capita burden of these townships has dropped from 123.98 cents to 83.14 cents, which is 40.84 cents less than before the tax reform, and the burden on farmers has been significantly reduced. Wang Taihua, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, said in an interview: "The progress of the pilot reform of rural taxes and fees is generally smooth. "The reform first brought tangible benefits to farmers. According to calculations, after the reform, the province's agricultural tax, agricultural special product tax and surcharges totaled 3.661 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.1 billion yuan from before the reform. Sixty-four million yuan. Together with the abolition of slaughter tax and rural education fundraising, the total tax burden of farmers has been reduced by 1.69 billion yuan, a reduction of 31%.At the same time, the provincial government canceled 50 kinds of fees, fund-raising, government-managed funds and standard projects for farmers, and the "three chaos" were basically effectively curbed. " On August 5, 2000, on a Saturday night, China Central Television broadcast the news of rural tax and fee reform in Anhui Province in the prime-time "News Network" program.This is obviously not the first time for this "news", and it has been five months and three days since "the central government decided to carry out a pilot reform of rural taxes and fees in Anhui Province on a provincial basis".Of course, this is not a "mistake" by CCTV. It only shows that the Party Central Committee and the State Council are prudent and pragmatic about this reform.Because the noon harvest has passed at this time, the rural tax and fee reform work in Anhui Province is off to a good start, and it has already achieved initial results!