Full text: Report on China's central, local budgets

-- Working for progress in fiscal and tax reforms and legislation

We worked toward extending VAT to cover all goods and services. We continued the reform to apply ad valorem rates to all resource taxes, piloted the reform to introduce the water resource tax, and drove progress in legislation on an environmental protection tax. We developed measures for the management of non-tax government revenue. We issued guidelines on the reform to share fiscal authority and spending responsibilities between the central and local governments, making clear the requirements, the sharing principles, and the main content of the reform. We determined the appropriate ratio for sharing VAT revenue between the central and local governments following the application of VAT in all industries in order to ensure the stability currently enjoyed in the sharing of financial resources continues. We adjusted the methods for central government VAT rebates to local governments, and improved the revenue-sharing fiscal system. We issued and implemented fiscal policies on granting urban residency to people with rural household registration living in urban areas, and introduced related reward mechanisms.

We reformed and improved the system of central government transfer payments to local governments, cutting the number of items receiving special transfer payments from the central government to 94, and raising the proportion of general transfer payments against total transfer payments to 60.6 percent. We stepped up efforts to see that government budgets and final accounts are made available to the public, publishing for the first time a whole package of final accounts of central departments on http://www.gov.cn/and http://www.mof.gov.cn/index.htm and drawing up operating procedures for publicly releasing local budgets and final accounts.

-- Working to improve the performance of government funds

We promptly approved the appropriation of government funds in strict accordance with the budgets approved by the NPC. In strengthening budget performance administration, we applied performance target administration to all central department project expenditures, began for the first time to set performance targets and indicators for major projects at the same time as granting budgeted funds, and conducted performance evaluations in relation to expenditures for a portion of major policies on people's wellbeing and for key special projects. Information on the performance administration and performance evaluation results of some central department budgets were for the first time released to the public along with the final accounts of these departments.

Available government funds were put to work, in accordance with regulations, in pressing areas of economic and social development. We carried out trials to integrate and coordinate the use of government funds for rural development in poor counties, granting these counties the power to allocate and utilize the funds earmarked for such trials. We improved fund management for central government-funded research programs, expanding the authority of colleges and research institutions to manage research funds and expenses on related travel and meetings. We made a big push to expand the use of public-private partnership (PPP) models, and strengthened lifecycle financial regulation of PPP projects to ensure the quality of implementation. At year end 2016, 11,260 projects, with a total investment of 13.5 trillion yuan, were included on the national information platform for multiple PPP models; 1,351 of these projects, representing a total investment of 2.2 trillion yuan, have already been contracted and are in implementation.

We strengthened reform to encourage government procurement of services, and formulated guidelines on supporting the fostering and development of social organizations through government procurement of their services and on carrying out reform to introduce government procurement of services from public institutions. We worked to accelerate the operations of government-invested funds, and encouraged nongovernmental sources to invest.

-- Working to prevent risks posed by local government debt

We worked in strict accordance with the Budget Law, the Guarantee Law, and other relevant laws and regulations to take further steps to ensure standards were in place for the management of local government debt. At year end 2016, total outstanding local government debt stood at 15.32 trillion yuan, which was within the limit of 17.19 trillion yuan budgeted for the year. We improved the budgetary management system for general and special local government debt, and incorporated for the first time a full review of local government debt into the draft budgets, thereby proactively subjecting it to oversight.

We carried out risk assessments and provided early warnings on local-government debt risks and reported the results to the relevant authorities and local governments, urging high-risk regions to raise funds through multiple channels so as to defuse their debt risks. We introduced emergency response contingency plans for local government debt risks and guidelines on dealing with risks by type, building up our policy reserve for responding to risks and emergencies.

We issued the Provisional Measures for the Representative Offices of Supervisors from the Ministry of Finance in Localities to Conduct Oversight on Local Government Debt to make oversight regular. We also organized an investigation into illegal local government financing, and urged the regions and financial institutions concerned to rectify this problem in accordance with the law.

-- Ensuring budgets were managed in strict accordance with the Budget Law

We made the budgets more detailed, further scaled down the amount of tentative budgets prepared by the Ministry of Finance for other government offices or projects, and worked to ensure all projects were covered by central government department budgets. We cut the number of projects financed by government-managed funds to 23, and introduced a list and catalogue system to manage these projects. We expanded the scope of the central government's state capital operations budget, and formulated the provisional measures for the management of expenditures from this budget. We conducted a nationwide review of assets owned by administrative agencies and institutions.

We moved forward with the reform to establish a system for comprehensive government financial reporting based on accrual accounting, and issued four sets of regulations concerning government accounting principles including principles on fixed assets. We organized inspections on the implementation of subsidies for the use of new-energy vehicles, the disclosure of local budgets and final accounts, and the operations of government procurement agencies. During the inspections we investigated and exposed a number of cases of violations of the Budget Law and financial and economic discipline and held those responsible to account.

In 2016, the Ministry of Finance improved its services for the deputies to the NPC and members of the CPPCC National Committee. We dealt conscientiously with their suggestions and proposals, handling over the course of the year a total of 2,889 suggestions made by deputies and 1,323 proposals by members. We did more to improve communication with the deputies and members, soliciting and taking on board their opinions and suggestions in order to improve public finance work.