Chapter 36 Chapter Eight: Breaking the Question——2 Two "internal references"

The reduction of the burden on farmers means that the fiscal gap between counties and townships has increased.How to make up for the sudden increase in the income gap has become a topic that they are eager to solve. Take Taihe County, which was the first to carry out a pilot tax reform, as an example. In 2000, when this round of rural tax and fee reform was carried out, the income gap reached 97.32 million yuan, a decrease of nearly 100 million yuan!If the money is not enough to spend, either open source or reduce expenditure.The central government and the province have issued repeated orders to "ensure that farmers' burdens are effectively reduced and will not rebound", and the important source of making ideas from farmers has been blocked.If there is not enough food, the most immediate way is to reduce the number of people who eat.As early as five years ago, when the pilot tax reform was launched, Taihe County had already downsized a batch of people, but now the gap is bigger than ever. All the employees who are not on the staff have to be dismissed, so all the super staff in the townships have been streamlined. People, these things that you can't make up your mind or do on weekdays, have no choice but to be brought up on the agenda today.

However, when it is still useless to clear out the employees who are not on the staff and reduce the number of super staff, the staff on the staff will also have to rely on the pot for food. Some have to reduce the staff by persuading them to retire due to illness or retire early.Of course, there are still various complex factors such as personal relationships and family backgrounds to consider, who will retire and who will not. However, it is urgent to reduce the number of people who eat the imperial food as much as possible! After reducing the number of people who eat, we will continue to live a tight life.The Taihe County Party Committee and County Government later put forward the slogan of "put chopsticks, stop the car, and turn off the machine", and accordingly issued a series of rules and regulations such as "Small Car Equipment and Use System" and "Reception System".The six major teams in the county are like this, and the cars of the township cadres have to be converted into bicycles, and they have to eat working meals in the cafeteria at noon, and the village level even cancels the entertainment fee... All funds must first be used for wages. In the case that the normal payment of wages cannot be guaranteed, other expenses will be stopped!

It is natural for those township cadres who are used to living a happy and unrestrained life to complain about the current tight life of lack of salt and oil.Therefore, although the central government and the provinces are very determined to reform rural taxes and fees this time, and most places have indeed implemented orders and prohibitions, there are always some places that still go their own way, and make a big effort to implement policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. Among them, the one with the worst nature and very bad political influence is the incident in Chengzhuang Town, Dangshan County.

In Dangshan County, there are actually no mountains in the county, but there is a Mangdang Mountain near the neighboring county, which was once a hiding place for Liu Bang at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and the name of Dangshan County may come from this.It is located on the old course of the Yellow River in the northernmost part of Anhui Province. It has always been famous all over the world for its rich pears. However, for so many years, the farmers in Chengzhuang Town who grow pears have not become rich because of this, because the burden on the farmers there has always been heavy. .From 1997 to 1999 alone, during these three years, the various taxes and fees borne by farmers in Chengzhuang accounted for 11.99 percent and 10 percent of the previous year's per capita net income respectively. 11.41 and 13.24 percent, which is far from the "big limit" of 5 percent set by the central government!People in Chengzhuang, who harvest sweet pears every year, seem to get nothing but bitterness and disappointment.

In 2000, according to the rural tax and fee reform implementation plan formulated by the county, the per capita burden of farmers in Chengzhuang Town was still 161.70 yuan. The regulations that increase the burden on farmers do not intend to use their brains on increasing income and reducing expenditure, and do something suitable for this reform. Instead, everything is business as usual, and income is determined by expenditure, and an increase of 1,550,600 yuan is made without authorization. , an increase of thirty-six yuan and one dime per capita.In the process of expropriation, not only violated the regulations, but also shared it equally according to the mu, and neither announced it, nor issued tax notices, nor issued tax invoices, and still messed around.Fortunately, this pilot project in Anhui is very transparent, and all the party's principles and policies have been directly met with the farmers, not to mention the "A Letter to the Farmers in the Province" issued by the provincial party committee and the provincial government. Wanhu, even the "Notice on Carrying out the Reform of Rural Taxes and Fees" was posted all over the place. This approach of the Chengzhuang Town Party Committee and government was obviously inconsistent with the spirit of the above, and many farmers stood up to resist.Pang Jialiang, secretary of the township party committee, is not extraordinary either. When he saw that the masses refused to implement the township's decision, he decided that the villagers were committing a riot, so he decided to show everyone some color.Therefore, an "ideological and political school" proposed by him and approved by the joint meeting of the township party committee and township government was officially opened. They gathered farmers who could not pay taxes and fees in time for "education".Pang Jialiang, secretary of the town party committee, served as the honorary principal, Fu Zhengyong, the mayor of the town, served as the principal, and other relevant party and government leaders each served as the vice-principal.

The time required to complete the task of paying taxes and fees is determined at the end of June. This is a "green and yellow" day for pear farmers, because crisp pears will not be on the market until late August, and pear farmers will not be able to sell the pears How can there be money?Go borrow usury, many people can't afford it.In this way, in July, if the payment amount cannot be completed, the village cadres will provide the list, and the school will send a car to the door to forcibly escort them.When people go to school, they first have to pay a "travel fare" ranging from 50 to 100 yuan, and then each person has to pay 20 yuan per day for food and accommodation.Since entering the "ideological and political school" run by the town, pear farmers don't expect to have personal freedom.At that time, it was midsummer, and people were sweating profusely when staying indoors, but the school drove everyone to the playground like ducks to bask in the sun, and forced them to run in circles, and they would be scolded if they ran slowly. , and even received corporal punishment.The most unbearable thing for everyone is to gather everyone together and order the father and son brothers to slap each other in the face. The slap must be real and the slap should be loud. .All of a sudden, relatives killed each other, and the sound of slaps and faces rang out.

This is the 21st century. Such a cruel and brutal act of tax collection naturally aroused a strong resistance from the farmers in Chengzhuang Town.One person shouted, and a hundred people responded. A team of petitioners who did not ask for an explanation and never turned back took several tractors and rushed to the provincial capital 400 kilometers away. This incident immediately alerted the Anhui Provincial Party Committee and the provincial government.Zhang Ping, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Vice Governor, hurriedly drove to welcome the petitioners in Cao'an, Changfeng County, which is 80 to 90 kilometers away from Hefei.He patiently listened to everyone's complaints.He himself is from Xiao County, which borders Dangshan County, and he knows the farmers in Xiaodang area very well. He knows that the hardworking and simple children of the old way of the Yellow River would never make such a big commotion if they were not forced to corner.

Zhang Ping said sincerely: "Please go back, everyone, don't go to Hefei again, I will send people to Chengzhuang to investigate tomorrow." He made a loud promise to the people, "Please believe me, this matter will be resolved. " The next day, Xu Wei, assistant director of the provincial agricultural committee, and his team of five rushed from the provincial capital of Hefei to Dangshan County, several hundred miles away.They first approached Ma Jun, secretary of the county party committee, to find out about the situation. Unexpectedly, Ma Jun said it very casually: "The common people in that place have not been producing well, so they will sue!"

When Xu Wei heard this, he knew that the secretary of the county party committee was too young. At this time, he still didn't know the seriousness of the Chengzhuang incident.He said, "Let's go down and have a look." Seeing that a group of people from the province insisted on going down to investigate, Ma Jun politely stopped him, pointing out the danger of going on: "If you go at a time like this, your personal safety may not be guaranteed." Of course Xu Wei didn't believe it.Based on his experience, as long as the masses are allowed to speak and their opinions are respected, the vast majority of the masses are still reasonable; on the contrary, if one blindly avoids contradictions, or even regards the masses as the opposite of oneself, everything will go wrong.

Xu Wei and the others did not stay in the county seat, but rushed to the town without stopping. Farmers in Chengzhuang Town saw that people really came from the province, and they were sure that the leaders in the province were different. Tears were shed at the intersection. Xu Wei asked everyone to stand up in a hurry, and couldn't help sobbing: "I was appointed by the provincial party committee and the provincial government to listen to everyone's opinions!" Wang Taihua, Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, learned the truth about the collective petition of farmers in Dangshan County from the report of the Provincial Agricultural Economic Commission. He said angrily: "Is it still the Communist Party to treat the peasants like this? What do we want such party members for!"

He immediately rushed to Dangshan to deal with the "Chengzhuang Incident" himself. Soon, the Anhui Provincial Commission for Disciplinary Inspection and the Supervision Department of Anhui Province issued a circular to the entire party regarding the investigation and handling of this incident.The circular pointed out that Chengzhuang Township in Dangshan County seriously violated the central rural tax and fee reform policy, ignored the repeated orders of the provincial party committee and the provincial government, and arbitrarily increased the burden on farmers. It infringes on the interests of the masses, violates the personal freedom of the masses, hurts the feelings of the masses, damages the image of the party and the government, destroys the relationship between the party and the masses, cadres and the masses, and has caused very bad political influence.Such acts of going their own way, engaging in policies and countermeasures, seriously violating political discipline, ignoring the party's principles, deviating from the party's purpose, and causing serious consequences must not be tolerated and must be dealt with seriously.Research decision: expel Pang Jialiang, secretary of the town party committee, from the party; revoke the mayor Fu Zhengyong from his administrative position and put him on probation in the party for one year; revoke Wang Fazhou, deputy secretary of the town party committee, from his party position; give administrative demerits to deputy mayors Meng Fanchang and Wang Yan; Ma Jun, secretary of the county party committee, and Shen Qiang, county magistrate, were given serious warnings within the party and administrative demerits. The "Chengzhuang incident" and the subsequent serious investigation and punishment caused a great shock in the vast rural areas of Anhui Province at that time, and it sounded a deafening alarm for those rural cadres who wanted to take risks because of the financial gap! In fact, Dangshan County is not alone in the first year of the pilot reform of rural taxes and fees in Anhui.When Secretary Wang Taihua was interviewed, he did not avoid the problems existing in the pilot work.In particular, he pointed out that because the supervision system is not perfect, there are still some places where village cadres come to pick up food and carry things and cause troubles.Specifically, it refers to the vast township of Lai'an County in the eastern Anhui area. Lai'an County is also one of the counties in Anhui that carried out tax reform pilot work earlier, and the publicity of various policies and regulations is not in place. However, this year, the person in charge of Guangda Township used It's still the old way.They publicly mobilized at the meeting of cadres at both levels of the township: "For the few difficult households, nail households, and hard-to-reach households who refuse to pay money or food, when necessary, we must adopt a policy of deprivation!" Township leaders If you dare to say such things at the meeting, the courage of the village cadres will rise to the sky.Liu Chunguo, a farmer in this township, used to be a responsible farmer. He paid taxes in full and on time every year in the past. Although he was overwhelmed, he never said a word.However, the whole province suffered a disaster in the year when the tax reform was launched. Liu Chunguo was unable to provide cash for a while, but the village cadres believed that he was working against the tax reform work, and that he was a "difficult household, a nail household, and the boss" who refused to pay the money. He led a group of wolf-like expropriators, yelling and forcibly picking up food. Liu Chunguo was so angry that he drank pesticides on the spot and committed suicide. After all, the reform of taxes and fees affects the vital interests of all aspects, and such interests have not only been formed over a long period of time, but are also closely linked with various powers. Therefore, it is conceivable that the task of reform is arduous. In some places, various tricks will emerge to increase the burden on farmers.In view of this situation, Wang Taihua, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, emphasized at the small meeting that all parts of the province should be further improved. The supervision and management mechanism of farmers' burden should give full play to the supervisory functions of public supervision, legal supervision, public opinion supervision, etc., unblock the channels for farmers to report problems, and form an all-round supervision system of farmers' burden as soon as possible to ensure that farmers' burden is strictly controlled .Only in this way can we talk about maintaining long-term stability.The story that happened in Sanqing Village, Longtang Township, Feidong County is the best interpretation for Wang Taihua's speech. One day, the editorial department of Xin'an Evening News, which had the largest circulation in Anhui Province, suddenly received a letter from Sanqing Village, Longtang Township, Feidong County, in the name of "all the villagers".The letter said: "The Party Central Committee and the State Council have carried out a pilot reform of rural taxes and fees in our province. Departure, the "tax-calculated regular production" was approved as 1,043 kilograms per mu, and the tax payment notice issued stipulated the "tax-calculated regular production", "tax rate", and "agricultural tax surcharge" to be publicized. Many items are left blank, just fill in how much we should pay. If the tax is calculated on the basis of 1,043 kilograms per mu, the burden on our farmers will not be reduced, and it will be much higher than last year. It's getting harder..." After receiving this letter from the peasants, the leaders of the newspaper office attached great importance to it and immediately sent Shi Shouqin to investigate and verify it. Shi Shouqin is not considered a senior reporter, but he is outstanding among young reporters. Although she is a woman, she does not give way to a man, and she is quite old-fashioned and warm-hearted. This time, the leader of the newspaper office sent her to Feidong, so there was a reason for this.In the past, a village in Lukou Township, Feidong County also reported the problem of farmers' burden, and she was sent to investigate and verify it. For this reason, there was a good story about "half a bowl of muddy water".That day, because she left in a hurry, she was wearing a large floral dress that she had just brought back from Japan, but she didn't even bother to change it, so she set off on the road in a hurry.When she rushed to the village and explained her purpose to the farmers in the field, she found that the farmers were all dumbfounded and looked at her curiously. Only then did she realize that the outfit she was wearing was not helping.She then took out the letter from the villagers to the newspaper and made further explanations. Unexpectedly, a young farmer in his early twenties suddenly stood up, picked up a big blue bowl beside him, walked to the field ditch, bent down and scooped it up. Half a bowl of muddy water, and then brought it to her and said: "How can we believe that you don't engage in 'protection between officials and officials'? How about this, if you are not afraid of dirty water and dare to drink a few sips, we believe that you may be able to say a few words for us Tell the truth." Shi Shouqin secretly complained when he saw it.Drink it, look at the water, and feel something turning in your stomach; don't drink it, you have to leave immediately.She couldn't hear what the other party said, so she took the bowl without hesitation, raised her neck and drank without blinking.When she was about to finish drinking, the bowl was snatched away. She saw that the face of the young farmer showed shame, and the expressions of the farmers present also changed. After the interview, all the farmers in the village came out to see her off; Later, she used a report to solve the problem for the villagers. To express her gratitude, a rural teacher in her 70s braved the heavy snow that was rarely seen that year and sent a couplet of Zhang Er to the Evening News. A clever hand writing the article". Since then, she has firmly established a belief: "Stand under the party's flag, and do my best to speak for the common people!" This time, when she read the letter from the villagers this time, she felt very heavy and set off immediately; after field investigation and verification, she became more and more disturbed.From what I have learned, the farmers there have no objection to the major policy plan of the central government's tax and fee reform, and have no objection to the agricultural tax rate and agricultural tax surcharge rate determined by the provincial government. "Tax-calculated regular production" was as high as 1,043 kilograms per mu. I was extremely dissatisfied, thinking that this was a different way to increase the burden on farmers.Because the higher the "approved" yield per mu, the more taxes farmers have to pay according to the prescribed tax rate, which has reached an unbearable level.Ding Youfa, a villager, showed her the toll card he had handed in in the past and this year's tax notice. Ding Youfa and his family planted less than two acres of land. This year the tax and fee reform was carried out, but they have to pay 221 yuan. Villager Yang Shanglu gave Shi Shouqin a detailed account of the income and expenditure of his family's one-year farming.He said that the four members of his family planted three acres of land, and it cost 67.5 yuan to buy rice seeds, 20 yuan to use pesticides, 190 yuan to use chemical fertilizers, and 140 yuan to fetch water from electric irrigation stations. , I paid 500 yuan for plowing the field twice with other people's oxen, and 80 yuan for rice threshing. In this way, the total investment is 997 yuan and 50 cents, which is nearly 1,000 yuan.Besides, the normal production of one mu of rice here is only 500 to 600 kilograms, and the harvest in one season is 1,815 kilograms. According to the purchase price of 8.2 cents per kilogram at the grain station this year, you can get 1,669 yuan. For one season of rapeseed, if you collect 200 kilograms, you can get about 400 yuan. Add up the two items, and after deducting the investment, you can subtract 356 yuan and 25 cents for agricultural tax, water fee and foreign capital for the Pishihang project. To repay the loan, it is clear that only 716 yuan and 5 cents are left! At this point, Yang Shanglu smiled bitterly and said: "It's not over yet. A few days ago, the village accountant came to ask for money again, saying that there was still 122 yuan for the drain cleaning fee; where to build the electric irrigation station?" I don't know yet, it will cost sixty-eight yuan. Adding it up, it was another three hundred and one yuan and eighty cents! But I didn’t pay the money. I asked the village accountant to write a payment note, and I wanted to sue for this purpose!” Shi Shouqin did see the note sliver.She also calculated an account for Yang Shanglu: this year, Yang Shanglu's family worked from morning till night, not counting all the labor. After deducting various taxes and fees, they only got 414 yuan. Eighty-seven cents!The whole family can spend less than one yuan and two cents a day; even if one yuan and two cents are counted and divided equally among the four, each person only has three cents a day! Today, when a box of ordinary matches has risen from two cents to ten cents, what is the use of the triangular money? Yang Shanglu said helplessly to Shi Shouqin: "The burden is so heavy, how can we farmers live? The farmers in our village have discussed it. If the 'tax-based regular production' is not reduced, the township and village cadres continue to ask for money behind their backs. If we don’t have enough money, all we have to do is quit the fields and go out to make a living.” Shi Shouqin was shocked when he heard that.She also wondered: Can the "regular yield" of one mu of land reach 1,000 kilograms?She approached Wang Wenzhong, Secretary of the Party Committee of Longtang Township, and Wang Wenzhong also admitted that it was impossible to achieve it. "Then, why did you do this when approving the 'tax-calculated regular production'?" She asked bluntly. Unexpectedly, Wang Wenzhong was also full of bitterness: "No one wants to set such a high level, but if it is not like this, the township and village governments will not function well." He also calculated an account for the reporter: according to the actual regular production and tax calculation according to the tax reform regulations, this year's township fiscal revenue will be reduced by more than 100,000 yuan compared with previous years; the income of the ten village committees in the township will also be reduced It is more than 478,000 yuan less than in the past, so the salaries of the two-level cadres, office expenses, construction of water conservancy, road construction, greening, subscription fees for newspapers and magazines, and living expenses for five-guarantee households, etc., etc. There are all difficulties. He said that peasants have their own difficulties, and the village and village levels also have their own difficulties.We believe that the tax and fee reform plan needs to be revised and supplemented. The plan is too rigid and basically does not take into account the relationship between burden reduction and balance. There is no flexibility in the operation. Township head Li Zefen also couldn't figure it out: "I personally think that when the higher authorities formulate policies, they should control the total amount of negative reduction and require every farmer to achieve the goal of reducing the burden. This is possible in theory, but impossible in practice. arrive." When Shi Shouqin came back from the interview, he didn't write for a long time.She feels that the reform of rural taxation and fees is very policy-oriented, and it is still in the pilot stage, so there will definitely be many unsatisfactory aspects.The difficulties encountered by cadres at the township and village levels are indeed real and need to be carefully discussed and resolved. Of course, the burden on farmers after the tax reform has not been reduced, but increased. This is definitely not a tax reform. What I hope to see, what Yang Shanglu said helplessly, needs to make the superiors think deeply. Therefore, she believes that the burden of farmers reflected in Sanqing Village, Longtang Township, Feidong County is not just a problem that needs to be "exposed". It may be more appropriate to write an internal reference manuscript. Therefore, on December 11, 2000, Shi Shouqin wrote a letter from all the villagers of Sanqing Village to the newspaper office, together with her "investigation notes", under the title "Why "Tax-based Regular Production" Released "Satellites"" Compiled an issue of "Xin'an Internal Reference" and reported it directly to the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, the Chairman and Deputy Director of the Provincial People's Congress, the Chairman and Vice Governor of the Provincial Government, and the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Provincial Political Consultative Conference. . The hard work of "Shi Daxia" not only reduced the farmers in Sanqing Village's "tax-calculated regular production" from 1,043 kilograms per mu to 790 kilograms realistically; Chief Zhang Ping also took the lead in convening a special meeting. According to the actual situation in Anhui Province, at the meeting, an unshakeable "upline" was determined for the collection of agricultural taxes in the whole province: "tax-calculated regular production" should not exceed 800 kilograms per mu. .With this "high-voltage line", the phenomenon in Anhui province like Longtang Township changing tricks to increase the burden on farmers has been completely eradicated. A "supervision by public opinion" in the Evening News not only caused the provincial party committee and the provincial government to attach great importance to the new situation and new problems encountered by township and village-level organizations, but also accelerated the pilot work of supporting reforms. "On the issue, the vital interests of the 40 million farmers in the province have been fundamentally guaranteed.When the news reached Sanqing Village, Longtang Township, the whole village felt rejoiced.Later, Yang Shanglu was entrusted by everyone to buy a few large plates of "Thousand Head Whip" or "Wan Shenglei", and took it to the door of the Evening News to put it on for a while to express their joy and gratitude. But first, the "hero" refused, saying that even if it was thanks, he should also thank the party for its good policies. Second, he also heard that firecrackers had been banned in Hefei City long ago, so it was not easy to mess around, so they gave up on it.