Scholars accuse the high tax burden as the real reason for driving away the manufacturing enterprises in China. However, some scholars claim that this is "exaggerating" and "misleading the public". What's going on? According to the Beijing News, recently, the news that Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Group, invested 10 billion yuan to build an automobile glass factory in the United States has aroused strong repercussions at home and abroad. Cao Dewang said, "Except manpower, everything in China is more expensive than that in the United States". In particular, he pointed out that the cost of manufacturing in China is too high, the highest of which is value-added tax. Reminiscent of Li Ka-shing's selling of mainland assets before, many people said that "Cao Dewang will also run away". Although Cao Dewang said that speaking publicly about tax burden is only to remind him of the sense of crisis, his focus is still on China.
According to reports from relevant media, "At present, the actual tax burden of Chinese enterprises is close to 40%, which means death for enterprises." Or "death tax rate". This incident triggered a debate about whether the tax burden level in China was too high. Some scholars accused the high tax burden as the real reason for driving away the manufacturing enterprises in China. However, some scholars claim that this is "exaggerating" and "misleading the public". What's going on?
Argument 1: Is China's tax burden a "death tax rate"?
Pro: Professor Li Weiguang of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics believes that the actual tax burden rate of Chinese enterprises should be close to 40%. What does a 40% or 30% tax burden mean to enterprises? It means death, or it can be called "death tax rate". Because in China, except for emerging industries and financial fields, the profit rate of most enterprises is less than 10%, and the tax burden of 30%-40% is enough to cause most eastern coastal processing enterprises to be in trouble or even close down at a loss.
Well Lee led a team to investigate corporate tax burden in 4 cities at the beginning of the year.
Against: Li Wanfu of State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China Institute of Taxation Science believes that the theory of "death tax rate" seriously misleads the public. There are many reasons for the decline in economic growth, including institutional factors, institutional factors and market environment changes. In recent years, China's macro tax burden has been steadily decreasing, especially a series of tax reduction and burden reduction measures have been introduced one after another, which has greatly reduced the tax burden of enterprises, but the economic growth has fluctuated greatly during the same period, from the initial double-digit high growth to the current 6.7% growth.
Argument 2: Is China's macro tax burden high?
Pro: Li Wanfu, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China Institute of Taxation Science, believes that there is no uniform caliber for macro tax burden, which is usually divided into large, medium and small caliber according to the composition of government revenue. Large caliber macro tax burden refers to the proportion of all government revenue in GDP. According to IMF statistics, China's macro tax burden is close to 30% in 2012-2015 years, far below the average level of developed countries of 42. Medium-caliber macro tax burden refers to the proportion of the sum of tax revenue and social security contributions to GDP. According to OECD calculation, China's macro tax burden was 23.4% in 20 12-20 15, while the average level of OECD countries in 20 14 was 35.5%. Small-caliber macro tax burden refers to the proportion of tax revenue to GDP. In 20 12-20 15, China's macro tax burden is about 18.5%, and it is decreasing year by year. According to IMF data, it is 25.9% in developed countries and 20.4% in developing countries in 20 13.
On the contrary: Professor Li Weiguang from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics said that the total tax rate of Chinese enterprises is measured by the "total tax rate" index in the World Development Index of the World Bank (the total tax rate refers to the proportion of corporate taxes and compulsory payment to commercial profits). In 20 13, the total tax rate of Chinese enterprises is 68.7%, which is not only significantly higher than that of developed countries, but also significantly higher than that of developing countries Thailand and South Africa, and only slightly lower than that of Brazil. In the following 20 14 and 20 15 years, China continued to maintain a high level of 68.5% and 67.8%.
Professor Li believes that there are samples and data in the survey. It is necessary to clarify the specific ratio of levy and taxation to profits. If the enterprise does not have much profit after paying taxes or fees, it is even losing money. Some people still say that the tax burden is not high. I don't think it is convincing.
Taxation is a very complicated problem. As long as taxation leaves a little profit for enterprises, enterprises will always survive and develop. However, the current profit rate is generally not high, which shows that we have entered an era of low profit rate. We don't mean to cut taxes only if we force enterprises to death, and then everything will be too late.
Argument 3: Is China's tax burden heavier than that of the United States?
Pro: Professor Li Weiguang of Tianjin University of Finance and Economics said that the tax reduction in the United States was very strong in the Reagan era. Until today, the United States is enjoying the tax reduction dividend in the Reagan era, and the Reagan administration even led the global tax reduction movement in the 1980s. The implementation of this tax reduction policy, first, has brought economic prosperity; Second, the new technology and information revolution, including the prosperity of digital technology that we are talking about now, are directly related to Reagan economics, which advocated tax reduction at that time.
Therefore, looking back at China's problems, don't wait until enterprises can't survive before reducing taxes, which will be too late. We hope to establish a light and appropriate environment that is conducive to the development, innovation and entrepreneurship of entrepreneurs. We can't say that on the one hand, we encourage everyone to invest and innovate, and on the other hand, we put a heavy tax system on entrepreneurs.
Against: Li Wanfu of State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China Institute of Taxation Science thinks that the macro tax burden level in China is still relatively low on the whole. Of course, because different taxes have different tax bases and tax rates are set differently, for enterprises, to measure the light or heavy tax burden of enterprises cannot simply look at the tax rate unilaterally, and the tax rate is not equal to the tax burden, so it should be comprehensively measured from multiple dimensions.
Argument 4: Does the different tax systems lead to the high tax rate in China?
Pro: Li Wanfu, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China Institute of Taxation Science, thinks that from the perspective of tax burden composition and undertakers, Chinese enterprises bear more than 90% of all kinds of taxes and fees, and individuals bear less than 10% of all kinds of taxes and fees. On the one hand, it is determined by the current tax structure with turnover tax as the main body in China; On the other hand, it also makes enterprises negatively sensitive to taxes (fees), especially when the downward pressure on the economy increases and the profitability of enterprises weakens, enterprises will naturally feel heavy tax burden. Comparatively speaking, personal income tax and social insurance tax (fees) in western countries account for a relatively high proportion, and the taxes and fees directly borne by enterprises are not high.
From the perspective of the transfer of tax burden, fees are often related to the government's provision of public products or services, and are related to the specific business activities of enterprises, which is difficult to pass on; Turnover tax, which accounts for about two-thirds of China's tax revenue, can be passed on because it is dependent on the price and affected by the relationship between supply and demand in the market. Taxpayers and taxpayers are separated, and enterprises only fulfill their tax obligations, not the burden. The tax structure with turnover tax as the main body will lead to an inflated corporate tax burden calculated according to the "total tax rate" index published by the World Bank. As for the regressiveness of turnover tax, it can be completed by optimizing the tax structure, but it is also a gradual process.
On the contrary: Professor Li Weiguang from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics said that China enterprises pay more taxes than American enterprises, which is not an impression or a representation, but a fact. This contrast just shows the gap between Chinese and American enterprises. In production, consumption, distribution and exchange, the American tax system is mainly in the latter two parts, mainly collecting income tax and some property taxes, but not collecting turnover tax. In the United States, enterprises are taxed only if they have profits, and they are not taxed if they have no profits. The degree of free development of enterprises is very high.
If operating income is used as the denominator and taxes are divided by operating income, it is obvious that the tax rate of enterprises is very low, because operating income will definitely be higher than net profit. Some local governments, institutions or individual scholars often like to use operating income as the denominator to calculate the corporate tax rate, which is of little significance. Calculating the tax rate on this basis shows that the tax rate is very low, as if the enterprise has no burden. But the actual situation may be that the enterprise has no profit or even loss. Whether the tax is heavy or not, you can't play digital games.