The export volume of agricultural products in the United States and the European Union is huge, and both sides have a large surplus of agricultural products, so they need to look for markets abroad. In order to expand exports, the export price of agricultural products is often reduced to enhance the competitiveness of commodities and occupy more foreign markets. However, these countries and regions generally take protective measures to maintain a domestic market price higher than the international market price, so that when exporting agricultural products at a lower price, exporters will suffer losses, which are usually compensated by direct cash subsidies from the state to exporters. For example, in 1995, the total subsidies of the United States and the European Union for wheat and corn exports reached $23 billion. Through the government-run agricultural credit company, the United States provides free cash compensation for the losses caused by the price difference between domestic and foreign agricultural products exports. At first, the EU's agricultural policy was not implemented in the form of export subsidies, but since the 1970s, due to the high support prices within the EU, a large number of agricultural products have been overstocked by governments of various countries: 1985, European countries have stored 780,000 tons of beef,/kloc-0.20 million tons of butter and/kloc-0.20 million tons of wheat. In order to avoid the continuous growth of stocks, the EU turned to export subsidies to promote exports. However, this subsidized export has further depressed the world price, increased the demand for subsidies within the EU, and increased its financial burden-the annual budget pressure of about 654.38+0.5 billion US dollars. In addition, it has also strengthened the agricultural trade conflict with the United States. Indirect subsidies refers to the financial preferential treatment given by the government to certain export commodities. There are mainly the following types:
1, export tax rebate. Export tax rebate refers to the import tax levied by the government on the raw materials of export commodities and the domestic tax paid in the process of domestic production and circulation, all or part of which are returned to exporters. Export tax rebate helps exporters to reduce sales costs and prices and improve their competitiveness. The export tax rebate is reasonable: first of all, the export goods are not consumed in China, and domestic taxes should not be levied like ordinary goods, or even domestic taxes should not be levied; Secondly, exporters may have to pay various domestic taxes in the importing country, so if the exporting country also collects domestic taxes, it may cause double taxation.
Export tax rebate includes two aspects. One is to refund the import duties of raw materials or semi-finished products used in export commodities, because these imported commodities are not used for domestic consumption, but are re-exported after reorganization, repair or processing. For example, Britain once refunded import duties when imported man-made fibers were processed into clothes, tablecloths and other products. The second is to refund all kinds of domestic taxes on exported goods, including sales tax, consumption tax, value-added tax and profit tax, so as to reduce the operating burden of exporters. For example, the export of steel and other products in the European market adopts the way of value-added tax being levied first and then returned, and the Brazilian government exempts industrial products from industrial product tax and commodity circulation tax. China has always adopted the export tax rebate system.
2. Export tax relief. Export tax relief refers to the government's relief of various domestic taxes and export taxes on the production and operation of export commodities. Export tax reduction is also to help exporters reduce product costs and improve their competitiveness in the international market. It mainly includes: (1) reduction and exemption of various domestic direct and indirect taxes; (2) Exemption from export tax; (3) Tax reduction for export income, such as Singapore, Brazil, India, Malaysia, etc., has stipulated substantial tax reduction for export income, some of which are as high as 90%. Export tax reduction and export tax rebate are different. The former occurs during the production and operation of export commodities, while the latter occurs during or after export. Relatively speaking, export tax reduction reduces the production input of export commodity producers and operators in all aspects, which is conducive to capital turnover and thus to exporters.
3. Export incentives. Export incentive refers to various forms of incentives given by the government to exporters according to their export performance, with the aim of encouraging exporters to further expand their export scale and increase their export earning capacity. Export incentives generally take the form of cash incentives, foreign exchange bonuses and export incentive certificates. Foreign exchange bonus refers to the government's withdrawal of certain foreign exchange incentives from exporters' foreign exchange income. Export incentive certificate refers to the certificate issued by the government to exporters that can be sold in the market or imported with a certain amount of foreign goods. Export incentives generally reward exporters according to a certain proportion of their total exports or total foreign exchange earned in a certain period, regardless of whether the exporters are profitable or losing money.
4. Other forms. At present, indirect export subsidies are more subtle and diversified. For example, the government has reduced or exempted the domestic transportation costs of export commodities or provided low-cost transportation modes; Reduce or exempt taxes by allowing accelerated depreciation and other measures. As stipulated in Malaysia, export enterprises whose export value accounts for more than 20% of the output value should implement accelerated depreciation system to promote their investment expansion and realize the modernization of equipment and technology; The government assists the technical research and development of export products or directly organizes relevant research work; Provide subsidies for export products to develop foreign markets. For example, Australia stipulates that when enterprises develop foreign markets, especially new markets, 70% of the expenses are provided by the government, while the Canadian government provides 50% subsidies for enterprises to develop markets.