Since 20 19, 1, social security fees have been collected by social security departments nationwide and transferred to tax departments. Therefore, some people pointed out that social security fees have become social security taxes. But in fact, the difference between social insurance premium and social insurance tax is essentially different in meaning.
The collection of social security fees by tax authorities cannot be equated with the change of social security fees to social security taxes. In fact, some government fees and other non-tax revenues have been collected by tax authorities, but they are still the essence of "fees". For example, the education surcharge has been levied by the tax authorities for decades, but it still cannot change its essence as a kind of "fee".
To understand the essential difference between social insurance premium and social insurance tax, we must first understand the difference between "tax" and "fee". The OECD once pointed out that fees are not free, but paid. At the expense of directly providing certain services, taxes are free and there is no specific expenditure purpose. Taxes and fees are the forms or sources of government revenue or public sector revenue. The revenue sources of the government or public sector mainly include taxes, government fees and bonds. The purpose of raising income by the government or public sector is mainly to meet the needs of the supply of public goods. The characteristic of taxation is that there is not a one-to-one symmetrical relationship between taxpayers and beneficiaries of public goods. For example, people who pay more taxes do not enjoy more public services than those who pay less or do not pay taxes. The government uses taxpayers' money to beautify and green cities, and people who don't pay taxes can also enjoy the benefits. However, there is generally a one-to-one symmetrical relationship between government fees. The one-to-one symmetry here includes two aspects. On the one hand, there is a one-to-one symmetrical relationship between the payer and the beneficiary who use this fee, and the non-payer cannot be the beneficiary; On the other hand, in order to raise certain fees and have a specific public service purpose, there is no specific way to collect taxes.
From the above analysis, we can infer the essential difference between social insurance premium and social security tax. The so-called social security tax that people usually refer to should be called social security fee.
Social security fee is a financing method or institutional arrangement for the government to implement social security system and meet the needs of residents' social security services. As a kind of government fee, social security fee has two typical characteristics of "fee". First, there is a one-to-one symmetrical relationship between the payer and the beneficiary of social insurance premium, which has the characteristics of special use. The collection of social security fees is not free. When the payer pays the fee, it is clear that the beneficiary is the payer himself. Social insurance premium is obviously compensatory, and there is an obvious one-to-one symmetrical relationship between the amount paid by the payer and the amount benefited. After residents pay social security fees, their funds are also included in the payer's account name, and the payer has a clear "private property right" to the funds, and others cannot use the funds. Second, the purpose of raising social insurance premiums is clear and unique, that is, it is used for social security projects, which embodies the characteristics of earmarking social insurance premiums. This is the same as the education surcharge, and the funds raised are specially used for the development of education.
Since social security tax is a kind of "tax", it should be uncertain about the specific purpose of expenditure. If there is a clear scope and purpose of expenditure, it is not a tax, but a fee. Social security tax mainly taxes wages and salaries, which belongs to the income tax system. Moreover, social security tax belongs to the tax category, so there is no one-to-one symmetrical relationship between payers and beneficiaries. Therefore, in essence, the result of the implementation of social security tax has the nature of social security fee.
Therefore, the collection of social security fees by tax authorities does not mean that social security fees have become social security taxes. It still belongs to the category of government fees and still has the nature of compensation for payers. Don't get me wrong, if the social security fee is levied by the tax department, it will become a kind of "tax". In fact, many provinces and cities have been collecting social security fees from tax authorities for many years before the social security fees were stipulated to be collected by the national social security departments from 20 19 1.
Second, should the social security fee be changed to social security tax?
For a long time, the international community's understanding of social security fees and social security taxes has been ambiguous, and social security taxes are often used as an excuse for special cases and exceptions. In fact, the so-called social security tax, which is widely levied in the world, is more appropriate and appropriate to call it social security fee.
Judging from the practice of countries all over the world, there is no unified title for the financing method of social security projects in various countries, which also shows that there are still differences on whether to raise funds in the form of social security tax or social security fee.
In Britain, the way to raise funds for social security projects is called national insurance contribution; In Ireland, it is called related social insurance; In Norway, it is called social security contribution; In the United States, it is called social insurance tax; In France, it is also called social insurance tax.
There is a view that social security fees should be changed to social security taxes. This view ignores that the so-called social security tax is essentially a social security fee. Therefore, on the contrary, the so-called social security tax in the world should be changed to social security fee, not social security fee. If the social security fee is changed to social security tax, it does not reflect the characteristics of social security project financing, special personnel and special funds. In the world, there has been a phenomenon of giving up social security tax and promoting social welfare mode with "fee", such as Sweden, which is called "the window of welfare state"
Social goods and services can be divided into two categories, one is private goods and services, and the other is public goods and services. Private goods and services are characterized by a one-to-one symmetrical relationship between the payer and the beneficiary, which means that the payer benefits in a closed way. Similarly, public goods and services also use this trading mechanism similar to private goods and services, and financing in the form of fees is better than financing in the form of taxes. However, due to the existence of hitchhiking and the concealment of beneficiaries' preferences, it is difficult for public goods and services to form a one-to-one symmetrical relationship between payers and beneficiaries, and it is also difficult for public goods and services to implement a trading mechanism similar to private goods and services. Therefore, taxes are generally used to raise funds for public goods and services.
If social security is regarded as a public product or service, it is better to collect it in the form of fees than in the form of taxes, because as previously analyzed, financing social security projects in the form of social security fees is closer to the trading characteristics of private products and services, and this trading mechanism is more efficient, that is, it reflects the one-to-one symmetrical relationship between payers and beneficiaries.
China's tax authorities collect social security fees in order to save the collection cost and improve the collection efficiency, so as to realize the specialization of social security fee collection and use management, better improve social welfare and serve residents. Judging from the situation of OECD member countries, 38% countries collect social security fees or social security taxes by tax authorities, including Britain, the United States and Canada. And the future trend is obvious, that is, more countries will collect social security fees or social security taxes by tax authorities.