Report on the implementation of the central and local budgets for 2014 and on the central and local draft budgets for 2015 (11)

Ecological conservation and environmental protection

We will go further in encouraging efforts to protect virgin forests, establishing an award and subsidy mechanism for halting logging in areas of natural forest not yet covered by the protective policy, and increasing existing subsidies for those areas of natural forest that already fall under the policy. A further 666,667 hectares of marginal farmland will be returned to forest or grassland. We will go further in improving the financial compensation system for forest conservation and forestry that produces positive ecological impact and the policy on subsidies and awards for the ecological conservation of grassland. We will increase investment in controlling air pollution. We will integrate financial resources to establish funds for the prevention and control of water pollution to help strengthen efforts in this regard, and carry out pilot projects to comprehensively improve the conditions of rivers by covering each river’s entire drainage basin. We will establish mechanisms to cover every aspect of efforts to promote the use of new-energy vehicles. We will adjust and improve the uses of existing funds for supporting the closure of outdated production facilities to tackle overcapacity. We will extend to more areas the comprehensive demonstrations for energy conservation and emission reduction based on integrating financial policies, and grant a full package of incentives to eligible provinces. We will deepen reform of the cap-and-trade system for pollution discharge, and expand trials of having provinces situated on the upper and lower reaches of river basins compensate each other for their impact on water quality.

Government-subsidized housing projects

To make sure that all the tasks for this year are completed, we will steadily shift the focus of our efforts from mainly providing physical housing to providing both housing and financial subsidies, thereby subsidizing both homes and home buyers; we will make use of the PPP model and government procurement of services, guiding nongovernmental capital to become involved in purchasing, building, and managing public rental housing; we will actively support the rebuilding of rundown areas in the cities; and we will make good use of available housing. We will develop methods for performance assessment on urban government-subsidized housing projects. We will step up efforts to renovate dilapidated rural housing and coordinate efforts for making rural housing more resistant to earthquakes.

Culture

We will support accelerated development of a modern system of public cultural services, and take steady steps to make the delivery of basic public cultural services increasingly standardized and equitable. We will support implementation of the initiative to make sure Chinese culture is passed on, strengthen the protection of cultural heritage and traditional Chinese villages, and promote the development of folk culture and ethnic minority cultures. We will support efforts to help art and literature to thrive and cultivate cultural talent, and we will put our weight behind ensuring the production of more works of distinction that have depth, contain a positive social message, and demonstrate a human touch. We will support efforts to strengthen the international communication capacity of our key news media outlets, and integrate the development of traditional and emerging media. We will establish a sound system to boost the cultural sector, and accelerate the development of its key industries.

Administration of justice

We will support the establishment of circuit courts under the Supreme People’s Court and the establishment of courts in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou for dealing with intellectual property rights related cases. We will push forward with trials to have provincial governments exercise unified management of and provide funding for the human, financial, and material resources of local courts and procuratorates below the provincial level.

Strengthening national defense and the armed forces

To strive for the goal of building powerful armed forces, we will strengthen the military in all respects so that they are more revolutionary, modern, and standardized; so that they are constantly developing their ability to complete their missions and tasks; so that they safeguard China’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity; and so that they ensure its peaceful development.

Improving the fiscal and transfer payments systems

We will adjust the mechanism for sharing the increase in export tax rebates. Beginning in 2015, the central government will pay the full sum of the increase in export tax rebates, and will no longer turn the increase in consumption tax over to local governments at a ratio of 1:0.3. This will help build a market that is unified across the country and improve the consumption tax system. We will establish sound mechanisms to link the transfer payments a government receives to the number of people from rural areas who have become registered permanent residents in urban areas within their jurisdiction. We will step up efforts to comb through and rearrange special transfer payments, so that in 2015, the number of items receiving special transfer payments from the central government will be further cut, this time to around one hundred.