Chapter 45 Chapter 9: Dare to Ask Where the Way Is - 5 Jumping out of Huang Zongxi's Law

Song Yaping, secretary of the Xian'an District Party Committee in Xianning City, Hubei Province, is a well-known "reform secretary" in Hubei Province.In order to improve the ability of the cadres in Xian'an District to adapt to the market economy and enhance their awareness of reform, he once sent one-third of the district and township cadres to the south to work and exercise, and each person was only paid 500 yuan a month. He has to rely on himself to work hard in society, so everyone calls him "secretary of migrant workers". In August 2002, Song Yaping came to Hefei admiringly. He wanted to hear He Kaiyin, who advocated rural tax and fee reform, talk about the "fee reform to tax" that was being piloted in Anhui.However, what He Kaiyin said straight to the point was far beyond his surprise.

He Kaiyin said: "The 'fee reform' has only reduced the burden of 30 to 40 yuan for farmers. We are now exempting all taxes and fees from farmers, and it is impossible to cause qualitative changes in China's rural economy. " Song Yaping looked at He Kaiyin somewhat surprised. He Kaiyin said: "In my understanding, reform should be innovation, system innovation, mechanism innovation, system innovation; major reform should be a revolution." He then quoted a sentence Deng Xiaoping said as early as June 7, 1988: "The problem we are facing now is that if we do not advance, we will retreat. There is no way out. Only deepen reform, and it is comprehensive. Only by reform can we ensure that we can reach a moderately prosperous level in this century and make better progress in the next century."

Quoting Deng Xiaoping’s words that “reforms can only be deepened and comprehensive,” He Kaiyin said: “‘Fee reform’ can only reduce the heavy burden on farmers, but cannot solve the main contradiction. Under the new situation of opening up, many new contradictions have accumulated in the countryside. It is precisely because the burden of farmers at that time has become a hot and difficult issue in the whole society, and it is in a key position that affects the whole body. Therefore, we chose it as a breakthrough point, first to reduce the heavy burden on farmers, and at the same time, to push all other deep-seated contradictions to a higher level, and then take countermeasures according to their priorities to solve them one by one."

"Unfortunately," He Kaiyin said helplessly to Song Yaping, "the Rural Tax and Fee Reform Office in the Ministry of Finance lacked understanding of the comprehensive deepening of rural reforms, and simplified this reform into 'fees to taxes'. The 'fee reform' has achieved great results in reducing the burden, improving the relationship between cadres and the masses, and stabilizing the society. However, it has also created some new difficulties, making it difficult to deepen the comprehensive rural reform. In some places, the burden on farmers rebounded again. The reason is very simple, because the Ministry of Finance is only a specific functional department, and it cannot replace other departments in formulating policies. Therefore, the "fee reform" is regarded as the first in rural China The three major reforms are a misunderstanding. The symbol of the major reforms is to transform the rural planned economy into a market economy. For this reason, we have spoken out loudly and continuously put forward suggestions to improve the current "fee reform" plan, but our voice is too weak after all. Yes, I feel powerless."

A thousand cups of wine is less when you meet a bosom friend, but a few words are more than a few words if you don't speculate.Now, facing the "reform secretary" from Hubei Province, He Kaiyin talked about rural reform, and he almost said all the things that he could only say in a few months.He said: "Tax and fee reform actually has rich connotations. It is connected with the reform of the rural household registration system, rural financial system and grain purchase and sales policy, especially the reform of the most fundamental land system; it is connected with the rural grassroots fiscal and taxation system, The reform of the financial system, rural compulsory education and rural science and technology system, especially the reform of the most important township and village-level institutions. In short, the reform of rural taxes and fees is a very complicated and profound social change. Such a major reform, It must be led by the prime minister and the deputy prime minister in charge, presided over by the office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, set up the reform office in a comprehensive department of the State Council, and select elite soldiers who are familiar with the business and understand the policy from all relevant ministries and commissions to do this work .Firstly, the Ministry of Finance revises and improves the tax reform plan so that it can drive other reforms; then, the grain department formulates new grain purchase and sales policies and carries out system reform; the Ministry of Education revises the Compulsory Education Law and each province formulates implementation rules; The Ministry of Public Security formulates the reform plan of the rural household registration system; the Ministry of Personnel formulates the plan for the reform of township institutions; the Ministry of Agriculture formulates the plan for the reform of the rural science and technology system; Formulate a reform plan for rural public health and medical security systems; the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Land Resources, in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, formulated a reform plan for the land system, and created a micro-subject of the market economy to lead farmers to adjust the agricultural structure. All these plans are summarized in a comprehensive The Reform Office, coordinate and revise, and finally form a comprehensive reform plan that complements each other to achieve overall advancement. Only in this way can we win the complete victory of comprehensively deepening rural reform and promote the great development of agriculture!"

Having said that, it resonated with Song Yaping.Because Song Yaping has worked at the grassroots level for many years in the past, he has a relatively good understanding of the situation of "agriculture, rural areas and farmers". He has also done research on these aspects. So the two exchanged views on how to effectively promote China's agricultural development, rural progress and farmers' prosperity. Both of them believed that the policy of "recuperation and recuperation" should first be implemented for China's agriculture today, and all agricultural taxes and surcharges levied on farmers should be exempted.The resulting reduction in income at the county and township levels can be resolved by reducing work, personnel and expenditure.In this way, the central and provincial financial transfer payments in the process of rural tax and fee reform can be fully used for basic education in rural areas and rural health services.

Both also believed that a strategy of "governing by doing nothing" could be pursued while implementing a "rest and recuperation" policy on China's agriculture. The current five-level government will be gradually restored to three-level government, and townships will be established, and the current township government will be changed into a town office as an agency of the county-level government.If the current conditions are not met, we can first streamline the township organizations on a large scale, adopt the method of cross-serving party and government cadres, combine the "four majors" into one, resolutely reduce the number of posts and staffing of township leading cadres, and divert redundant staff.As for the "seven stations and eight offices" in the townships, except for the police stations and vertical management, they are all restructured into intermediary service agencies or professional economic organizations. After the restructuring, the "seven stations and eight offices" can only closely focus on rural economic construction and social progress. To meet the development requirements of the country, provide effective services for agricultural production and farmers' lives, and become an enterprise legal entity with independent management, self-responsibility for profits and losses, and self-development.In principle, village committees are no longer endowed with administrative functions, and gradually expand the democratic rights of village committees and further regulate the autonomy of village committees.At the same time, support and help farmers to establish peasant associations at all levels with rich economic, political, cultural, and technological connotations. The nature of peasant associations should be the same as that of mass organizations such as women's federations and trade unions in cities. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, it has the same political status and plays an active role in promoting economic development and maintaining social stability.

Of course, cancel the state ordering of grain, resolutely liberalize the purchase price of grain, and liberalize the purchase and sale market of grain; return the land to farmers and allow farmers to transfer their land use rights in an orderly manner; encourage and support farmers to move to cities. Migration, gradually establish a unified and open labor market between urban and rural areas, and truly achieve equal status of urban and rural residents in the face of employment and development opportunities.These are very important. Also actively explore the rural medical insurance system and rural pension system that are jointly funded and reasonably borne by the state, collectives, and individual farmers; combine the rural poverty alleviation policy and other civil subsidy policies to try out the minimum living security system for farmers.These, too, must be done.

It is also necessary to gradually increase the state's investment in rural infrastructure construction... It is also necessary to reform the financial management system in rural areas, liberalize and invigorate rural finance... He Kaiyin said: "In the history of China, there have been many rural tax reforms. Tang had the 'Two Taxes Law', the Ming Dynasty had the 'One Whip Law', and the Qing Dynasty had the reform measures of 'split Ding to Mu'. The reforms were all carried out in response to the various fees and charges at that time, corrupt officials filling their own pockets, and farmers being overwhelmed. The content of the reforms was basically to change fees into taxes, simplify complexity, and solve official problems. Those reform measures , in the short term, most of them can "clear up all the disadvantages" and give farmers a chance to recuperate. However, in the end, without exception, due to the limitations of the social and political environment at that time, they all went to the opposite side and became It raised the threshold for future tax and fee increases, and the burden on farmers was even heavier. Huang Zongxi, a thinker in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, once brilliantly called it "the harm of accumulation and no return", and later generations called it the famous "Huang Zongxi law'."

He Kaiyin said: "The era we live in today is different from the past after all. How we hope that Communists who work thoroughly for the interests of the people can jump out of this historical law." Soon after Song Yaping returned to Xianning City, Hubei Province, he sorted out twelve suggestions from the discussions he had discussed with He Kaiyin, and wrote them to the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee;