The text of the news, including the date and punctuation of the forum, is 93 characters in total. But as people usually think, the shorter the official news, the more important it is. A common interpretation is that this is a signal to the society that real estate tax will be levied sooner or later. Moreover, it is likely to be piloted in several cities in advance, and then slowly pushed to cities that need expropriation.
Xu Xiaole, chief analyst of RealData, a real estate research institution, told the Securities Daily that there are not many problems in the legal basis and technical means of real estate tax at present, but how to find the right time to introduce policies to ensure that they will not have a big impact on market expectations after the introduction of policies is the key.
So, what is real estate tax and what impact will it have on the market? Why has this reform been put forward for many years and it is still difficult to make substantial progress?
From property tax, real estate tax to real estate tax
The so-called real estate tax, also known as urban real estate tax in China, is a kind of property tax levied on real estate owners or mortgagees according to their prices or rents.
At the beginning of the founding of New China, property tax and real estate tax were separated. 1950, 1 In June, the State Council, the central people's government, promulgated the Decision on Unifying State Tax Administration and the Implementation Principles of State Tax Administration, and established 14 tax categories nationwide, including property tax and real estate tax. Property tax is only levied on real estate, excluding the value of real estate, and was later incorporated into the urban real estate tax in actual implementation.
195 1 On August 8th, the State Council promulgated the Provisional Regulations on Urban Property Tax, which stipulated that property tax should be levied on real estate and land. If the house price and land price are not easily separated, real estate tax should be levied. At this time, property tax and real estate tax belong to two tax items in one tax category.
After the reform and opening up, in 1983 and 1984, China carried out a two-step reform of "changing profits into taxes" and industrial and commercial tax system. From 1986 65438+ 10/month 1, the provisional regulations on property tax came into effect. The above-mentioned Provisional Regulations on Urban Real Estate Tax will cease to be used by domestic enterprises and individuals, but it is still applicable to foreign-funded enterprises and other foreign-related units. In this way, a set of "internal and external differences" real estate tax system has been formed.
From 65438 to 0994, I carried out a large-scale tax reform and initially established a tax system adapted to the socialist market economic system. The real estate tax system has also been initially established, among which there are five taxes directly related to real estate ownership and land use rights: property tax, urban land use tax, urban real estate tax, cultivated land occupation tax and land value-added tax; There are six indirectly related taxes: business tax, personal income tax, urban maintenance and construction tax, enterprise income tax, deed tax and stamp duty.
From 200 1 to 20 10, China's tax system has been further simplified and standardized, and the tax burden has become fairer. As for the real estate tax system, the urban real estate tax was abolished (the Provisional Regulations on Urban Real Estate Tax was abolished on New Year's Day in 2009), and the internal property tax, urban land use tax and cultivated land occupation tax were changed to internal and external unified collection, eliminating the barrier of "internal and external differences". (June 5438 +2003 10) The Decision of the Central Committee on Several Issues Concerning the Improvement of the Socialist Market Economic System adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee proposed that "where conditions permit, a unified and standardized property tax should be levied on real estate". Property tax is another name for real estate tax, but this reform has not been carried out. )
Since 20 10, China has become the second largest economy in the world. At the same time, problems such as unfair income distribution, polarization between the rich and the poor, and dislocation of financial rights and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments have become increasingly prominent. It is urgent to promote a new round of tax reform in the direction of increasing the proportion of direct taxes and improving the local tax system. Real estate tax reform has become the engine of a new round of tax reform.
201165438+1On October 28th, Chongqing and Shanghai began to implement the pilot project of real estate tax reform, levying property tax on some individual houses. In October, 2065438+016543810, the "Decision of the Central Committee on Several Major Issues of Comprehensively Deepening Reform" adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clarified the statutory principle of taxation and pointed out the direction of "accelerating the legislation of real estate tax and promoting reform in a timely manner".
Based on the evolution of the real estate tax system, An Tifu, a professor at the School of Finance and Finance of Renmin University of China, believes that the concept of real estate tax can be divided into four levels from narrow to wide: personal housing property tax, property tax, real estate tax and real estate tax system.
Before the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, real estate tax reform, 201Chongqing and Shanghai's real estate tax reform pilot projects were all aimed at special objects, that is, property taxes levied on houses owned by individuals, or residential property taxes. This is a small-caliber property tax, which only taxes the value of the house, not the property.
1986 "Provisional Regulations on Property Tax" stipulates a medium-sized property tax, and its tax basis is the residual value after deducting a certain percentage from the original value of the property. The "original value of real estate" here includes the price paid for obtaining land use rights, the costs and expenses incurred in developing land, etc. In other words, the medium-sized "property tax" is to tax real estate and real estate together, and the tax basis includes house price and land price.
The concept of big real estate tax refers to the real estate tax system, including more than ten related taxes and fees directly or indirectly related to real estate ownership, land use rights and real estate construction, development and circulation.
Why should we promote the reform of real estate tax system?
From the Third Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee in 2003 to the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in 20 13, more than ten important official documents have expressed the real estate tax reform, ranging from "levying real estate tax" to "promoting real estate tax reform" to "accelerating real estate tax legislation and promoting reform in a timely manner".
In the above research, Professor An Tifu and his collaborators believe that the concept of "real estate tax" proposed in the decision of the Third Plenary Session of the 18 th CPC Central Committee is only one word apart from "real estate tax", but
The scope of taxation has expanded from simple houses to houses and land.
Its significance is mainly reflected in the following four aspects.
First of all, the problem of double taxation was solved. Originally, the property tax was levied on the owner of the house according to the value of the house or the rent, but some scholars pointed out that the value of the house includes the cost of using the land, that is, the land transfer fee, while the urban land use tax and property tax were levied according to the ad valorem of the land, which led to the problem of repeated taxation. The future real estate tax will be a combination of real estate tax and urban land use tax, and the real estate tax will be levied on the whole real estate according to the market value. On the one hand, it conforms to the principle of "consistency in location" stipulated in the Property Law and the Urban Real Estate Management Law, on the other hand, the question of "double taxation" is solved.
Secondly, tax design will be more coordinated with economic development. In the future, the real estate tax will be levied on the basis of the market value of real estate (deducted according to the per capita area or value) after the real estate appraisal, which can avoid the problems that the current real estate tax is based on the original value of the tax basis, the urban land use tax is levied according to the land area, and the land appreciation and housing premium depreciation cannot be reflected in the tax revenue, which is extremely uncoordinated with the current situation of real estate development, divorced from international practices, and weakens the macro-control function of taxation.
Third, the capitalization of government public expenditure in residents' real estate can be reasonably "recovered". Real estate appreciation is mainly reflected in land appreciation. On the one hand, the appreciation of land comes from the scarcity and use control of land resources, on the other hand, it comes from the investment of government infrastructure construction, such as the construction of subways, parks, schools and hospitals, which increases the value of surrounding real estate. However, according to the existing property tax regulations, residents' ownership of housing is "zero tax burden", which makes those with housing enjoy more public services than those without housing, and those with housing enjoy more public services than those with less housing, but they have not fulfilled more tax obligations, which violates the principle of fairness. The real estate tax levied on the holding of real estate is the "purchase" of public services and facilities enjoyed by residents within their jurisdiction, and the "recovery" of the capitalization of government public expenditure into the value of residents' real estate.
Finally, levying real estate tax will make the real estate tax system more reasonable. The author emphasizes that while increasing the tax burden of real estate ownership, it is necessary to reduce the tax burden of development and transaction. This can not only stabilize the tax burden, but also help people gain support for tax reform, encourage the circulation, operation and rental of houses, and reduce the idleness of houses and land. When the real estate market is in the "seller's market", it can also increase the house price by transferring the cost to the buyers instead of simply levying real estate tax.
The above actually explains the general functions of real estate tax, namely:
Obtain fiscal revenue, adjust economic operation and adjust income distribution.
The so-called fiscal revenue is to collect real estate tax from three links: real estate development, transfer and holding. Compared with China, which is not taxed in the holding link at present, expanding the scope of taxation to the holding link will undoubtedly provide new tax sources.
The so-called regulation of economic operation mainly refers to the function that real estate tax affects real estate prices, thus directly affecting the supply and demand of real estate and indirectly affecting the supply and demand of the whole market.
The so-called adjustment of income distribution mainly refers to the principle that real estate tax is property tax. People with property pay taxes, people without property do not pay taxes, people with more property pay more taxes, and people with less property pay less taxes. This is conducive to a fair income distribution.
Negative effects of real estate tax
However, some studies have pointed out that rashly levying property tax has a negative impact on the macro-economy.
Based on whether banks can distinguish whether corporate loans are invested in the real economy or the real estate industry, a study analyzes the macroeconomic impact of property tax before and after it is introduced into the housing market.
First of all, the introduction of property tax has obvious inhibitory effect on real estate development investment, house price and new house output. The housing market will be under pressure because the property tax increases the cost of holding real estate.
Secondly, the introduction of property tax has a dual effect on real economy investment: on the one hand, it has a positive crowding-in effect and increases physical investment; On the other hand, due to the decline in the net worth of entrepreneurs' property, there is a negative mortgage effect and physical investment is reduced.
Third, in the long run, the negative mortgage effect caused by the decrease of investment demand in the real economy is greater than the positive crowding-in effect caused by the increase of investment demand in the real economy, and the decrease of total physical capital leads to the decline of output.
Fourth, in the short term, when the bank can't tell whether the loan is invested in the real economy or the real estate industry, because the negative mortgage effect in the early stage is greater than the positive crowding-in effect, the total physical capital decreases and the output decreases; When banks can clearly distinguish between the two, because banks can better serve the real economy, the negative mortgage effect in the early stage becomes less than the positive crowding-in effect, the total amount of physical capital increases and the output rises.
Fifth, in the short term, when banks can't tell whether loans are invested in the real economy or the real estate industry, with the increase of leverage ratio, the total physical capital decreases less in the early stage and increases more in the later stage, so the output decreases less in the early stage and increases more in the later stage; When banks can clearly distinguish between the two, with the increase of leverage ratio, the total physical capital increases more, so the output increases more.
Sixth, in the short term, when the bank can't tell whether the loan is invested in the real economy or the real estate industry, with the increase of the return share, the total physical capital decreases more in the early stage and increases less in the later stage, so the output decreases more; When banks can clearly distinguish between the two, with the increase of return share, the total physical capital increases less in the early stage and more in the later stage, so the output increases less in the early stage and more in the later stage.
As mentioned above, one of the functions of real estate tax is to regulate housing prices, which directly affect the supply and demand of real estate and indirectly affect the supply and demand of the whole market. However, a study using household micro-data and regional macro-data to distinguish the short-term and long-term effects of real estate tax found that:
At the beginning of the implementation of real estate tax, it will bring a one-time release of the supply of stock houses, and the imbalance between supply and demand will lead to a short-term price correction. However, with the new balance between supply and demand in the market, after the real estate tax runs smoothly, local governments will become the key factor affecting the long-term trend of housing prices, and with the further strengthening of local governments' financial dependence on real estate, housing prices will be pushed up for a long time.
The result of such regulation will lead to the fluctuation risk of "hard landing" of house prices in a short period of time, which is not in line with the central government's regulation principles of "healthy and stable development of the real estate market" and "preventing the ups and downs of house prices". In the long run, it will force the real estate of the economy by increasing the financial dependence of local governments on real estate, which is also contrary to the original intention of the central government to "establish a long-term mechanism for real estate regulation."
In short, such a regulatory effect is not in line with the original intention and policy expectations of central governance.
The timing of effectively levying real estate tax
Considering the complexity of real estate tax effect, some scholars emphasize that it takes time to levy real estate tax effectively.
Li Bengui, a researcher in State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China, China Institute of Taxation, believes that only when the level of urbanization tends to be stable, the proportion of individual housing in total personal assets drops to a certain extent, and the level of disposable personal income is further improved, will there be a social and economic basis for levying urban land use tax and property tax on individual occupied housing.
Zhou Wenhao, a researcher at northwest university of politics and law University of Economics, also believes that the prerequisite and condition for effectively levying or generating property tax is that a country's urbanization is completed or nearly completed.
Specifically, if the urbanization rate of a country reaches 70%, it means that the urbanization of this country is close to completion; When this figure exceeds 75%, it is generally considered that the country has completed urbanization. Only when urbanization is completed, the large-scale investment in urban infrastructure is completed, the time series and spatial arrangement of various data and information are regular, housing is no longer the means of production and living of ordinary families but upgraded to "property", and the basis for direct taxation is formed, property tax can come naturally.
Perhaps because of the existence of many restrictive factors, although the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee clearly put forward "accelerating the legislation of real estate tax and promoting the reform in a timely manner" nearly eight years ago, the reform of real estate tax is still "intermittent".
For example, in the government work reports of NPC and CPPCC in recent five years (20 17 to 202 1), "real estate tax legislation" was mentioned only in 20 18 and 20 19, but not in other years.
According to the principle of "legislation first, full authorization and step-by-step implementation" determined by the regulatory authorities, legislation is the key node of real estate tax. As early as 20 15, the real estate tax law was written into the legislative plan of the National People's Congress. Since then, in the legislative work plans of the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC) 20 16, 20 17 and 20 18, the real estate tax law has been listed as a "preparatory project" of that year. However, the annual legislative work plan after 20 19 does not involve real estate tax.
Before this symposium, the official mentioned "real estate tax" four times this year. On March 13, the Tenth Five-Year Plan and the Outline of the Long-term Target in 2035 were released, and "Promoting the Legislation of Real Estate Tax" was written in it. On April 7, Wang, director of the Tax Administration Department of the Ministry of Finance, said at the press conference of the State Council Office that the Ministry of Finance would "actively and steadily promote the legislation and reform of real estate tax". On May 6th, Liu Kun, Minister of Finance, made the same emphasis in the article "Establishing and Perfecting a Modern Fiscal and Taxation System Conducive to High-quality Development" issued by official website, Ministry of Finance. In addition, this work was indirectly mentioned at the symposium on fiscal and taxation work in March this year.
Regarding the symposium held by the Ministry of Finance in May 1 1, several interviewees told the reporter of 2 1 Century Business Herald that the information revealed by the symposium showed that the real estate tax has progressed from the system design stage to the pilot promotion stage, and will be piloted in some cities.
No matter how difficult the realistic constraints are, we hope that at least the pilot work of real estate tax can be carried out as soon as possible. After all, with the pilot, we can understand the advantages and disadvantages of this reform and determine further choices in the future.
reference data
(List only journal papers):
Li Bengui: Reflections on China's real estate tax reform, Tax Research,No. 1, 20265438.
Zhou Wenhao: Analysis on the preconditions and conditions for effectively levying property tax in China at this stage, Journal of Yunnan University of Finance and Economics,No. 1 1, 2020.
Peng, Peng, Study on the Impact of Property Tax on Macroeconomy, Financial Research, No.8, 2020.
Liu, Wang Chongjin: "High housing prices, land finance and housing speculation: Can real estate tax curb housing prices?" Modern Finance and Economics,No. 1 issue, No.20 19 issue.
Hu and Fan Yinan: How to Position the Function of Real Estate Tax in China, Financial Research,No. 1 issue, 20 16.
An Tifu and Ge Jing: Research on Some Related Issues of Real Estate Tax Legislation, Finance and Trade Economy, No.8, 20 14.
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