Tax burden needs to be reduced in China
Whether it's called burden or misery, many still believe that China needs to continue its tax reform, as the current taxation system fails to keep up with a changing society.
According to Ma Guangyuan, the current tax burden is still heavy for residents in a general sense. When fiscal revenue increases but the income of residents remains stagnant, it may result in a wealthy state with poor citizens. This trend must be paid great attention to, said Ma.
The gap between the increasing speed of state wealth and citizen wealth cannot be too great, added Ma. As China is still a developing country, its macro tax burden is close to that of a high-income country. He pointed out that the current problem is not only about the taxation system but also about the structure of financial expenditure, as tax misery is closely related with how the government spends its fiscal revenue.
More transparent fiscal system required
Zhou Jiangong said the reason why the 2009 survey drew so much attention in 2011 is that taxpayers are more informed about how their taxes are being used, especially at a time when China is speeding up its pace of tax reform.
According to Zhou, when we pay our taxes, we now care about whether the government is making full use of the money and offering us better public services. Chinese citizens are asking more questions about the details of tax expenditure, which is a good sign of the improvement of taxpayer consciousness about their own rights.
Zhou revealed that the taxation system is always an intensively-debated topic in every country around the world, because it affects every individual in society. Currently, China requires a more transparent fiscal system so that everyone can supervise the use of taxes, he said.
