Full Text: Report on the Work of the Government (6)

Take targeted policies to cut excess urban real estate inventory

At present, there is still excess supply in the real estate markets of third- and fourth-tier cities. We will support both local and new residents in buying homes for personal use.

We need to be clear that housing is for people to live in, and local governments should take primary responsibility in this respect. We should move faster to establish robust long-term mechanisms for promoting the steady and sound development of the real estate sector and build a better housing system that gives equal weight to buying and renting, with multiple levels of demand being met primarily by the market, and basic housing support provided by the government. We will take more category-based and targeted steps to regulate the real estate market. Cities that are under big pressure from rising housing prices need to increase as appropriate the supply of land for residential use. We should better regulate housing development, marketing, and intermediary services, and keep home prices from rising too quickly in popular cities.

Today several dozen million people still live in rundown areas in cities and towns. We must continue housing renovations in these areas. This year, we will renovate another 6 million housing units in these areas, continue to develop public rental housing and other forms of government-subsidized housing, base measures on local circumstances and use multiple means to increase the use of monetary compensation for those affected by such rebuilding, and improve local infrastructure and public services. With these efforts, we will help more families struggling with housing to bid farewell to rundown areas, and see that with good roofs over their heads our people move on to better lives.

Carry out deleveraging in an active and prudent way

There is high leverage in nonfinancial Chinese firms. This is caused by high savings rates and the composition of financing which is primarily based on credit. While working to control overall leverage, we should focus on bringing down the leverage of enterprises. We need to see that the idle assets of enterprises are put to use, push ahead with securitization of corporate assets, support market- and law-based debt-to-equity swaps, develop the multilevel capital market, expand equity financing, and place tighter constraints on enterprises, especially SOEs, in leveraging, so as to gradually reduce enterprise debt to an acceptable level.

Take multiple measures to cut costs

More small businesses with low profits will enjoy halved corporate income tax, with the upper limit of taxable annual income raised from 300,000 to 500,000 yuan. For small and medium high-tech enterprises, the proportion of R&D expenses covered by the additional tax reduction policy is to be raised from 50 to 75 percent. We will do all we can to see the intensity and impact of structural tax cuts deliver further results. The great number of charges have placed an unbearable burden on many businesses; we are going to slash non-tax burdens.

First, we will completely overhaul government-managed funds, abolish municipal public utility surcharges, and authorize local governments to reduce and cancel some funds.

Second, we will abolish or suspend 35 administrative charges paid by enterprises to the central government, again cutting the number of charges by more than half; and then reduce as far as possible those that still apply. Local governments also need to make significant cuts to government administrative fees.

Third, we will reduce government-set operating fees for businesses. Unauthorized fees charged by intermediaries for government review and approval will be overhauled or abolished. We will work toward lower operating fees levied on businesses in the finance and railway freight sectors. We will strengthen oversight over the collection of market-set service fees.

Fourth, we will continue to lower as appropriate the share paid by enterprises for contributions to social security.

Fifth, we will deepen reforms and improve policies to reduce government imposed transaction costs for businesses and lower their energy and logistics costs.

All government departments and agencies concerned should have in mind the overall interests of the country instead of their narrow departmental interests, reduce the financial burden on enterprises, and help them develop new advantages over international competition.

Take targeted and powerful measures to strengthen areas of weakness

We need to focus on salient problems that are holding back economic and social development and making it difficult to improve people's standards of living, and we should integrate efforts to undertake major projects set out in the 13th Five-Year Plan with efforts to strengthen areas of weakness. We should act faster to raise the capacity of public services, infrastructure, innovation-driven development, and resources and the environment to sustain development.

Poor areas and people living in poverty represent the area of greatest weakness we must face as we work to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We need to do more in implementing targeted poverty reduction and elimination measures. This year we will further reduce the number of rural residents living in poverty by over 10 million, including 3.4 million to be relocated from inhospitable areas. Central government funding for poverty alleviation will be increased by over 30 percent.

We need to step up development in contiguous areas of extreme poverty, old revolutionary bases, border areas, and areas with concentrations of ethnic minorities. For this we should focus on the following work: improving infrastructure and public services; fostering poverty alleviation through distinctive local businesses, the domestic and overseas export of labor, and improving education and health care; providing assistance to people who become poor or sink back into poverty due to illness; implementing the program for improving life in poor villages; and building the self-development capacity of poor areas and people.

In poor counties, different rural development funds will be merged, and oversight over funds and projects will be strengthened. We will develop new mechanisms for coordinating poverty reduction efforts. We will support and guide non-governmental participation in combating poverty. The system for ensuring responsibility is taken for poverty elimination will be effectively enforced, the strictest possible evaluations and assessments of poverty alleviation will be carried out, and stern measures will be taken to address deception, falsification, and the manipulation of numbers in poverty elimination work. We must see that the results of our poverty elimination earn the approval of our people and stand the test of time.

2. Deepening reform in major sectors and key links

Full reform will be deepened in all areas. We will move faster to advance fundamental and critical reforms to boost the internal forces driving development.

We will continue to transform government functions.

To enable the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation and to give better play to the role of government, we must deepen reforms to streamline government administration, delegate more powers, and improve regulation and service. This is a profound reform of government itself, which we need to continue to pursue with the courage to make painful self-adjustments and overcome all odds.

We will fully implement the list-based management system, formulate lists of powers and responsibilities of the departments under the State Council, accelerate the extension of trials of granting market access on the basis of a negative list, and reduce the discretionary powers of the government while giving the market more freedom to take its course. We will abolish the requirement for permits for a number of production and service activities. We will deepen institutional reforms in the business sector, merge different forms of certification required of businesses into one certificate, and expand trials to separate operating permits and business licenses. We will improve the system for conducting both registration and post-registration oversight over businesses, apply the oversight model of random inspection and public release to cover all business activities, and strengthen coordinated administrative law enforcement. We will accelerate efforts to make the information systems of the State Council departments and those of local governments better connected and form a nationally unified government service platform.

To see that businesses and the public benefit more from our reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve regulation and services, we must cut red tape, level the playing field, provide greater convenience, and remove that last crucial hurdle.

We will continue to reform fiscal and tax systems.

We will implement and improve policies on replacing business tax with VAT across the board. We will simplify the structure of VAT rates, and undertake this year to turn the four tax brackets into three. We will create a simple, transparent, and fairer tax environment and further ease the tax burden of our firms. We will move faster to advance the reform of defining the respective financial powers and expenditure responsibilities of the central and local governments, formulate an overall plan for central and local government revenue sharing, improve the local tax system, and better regulate local government debt financing. We will step up efforts to make government budgets and final accounts more transparent to create pressure for idle budgetary funds to be put to good use. We must use funds more efficiently, and ensure every single sum is spent where it can be seen and produces results.