"Individual tax reform is under study and design", "Wages, salaries, etc. will be taxed on an annual basis" and "special expenses deduction items related to family livelihood will be appropriately increased" ... According to the Beijing News, on the morning of March 7, the press conference of the Fifth Session of the 12th National People's Congress was held, and the first question Xiao Jie, Minister of Finance, responded was about personal income tax reform. After careful analysis, there are many dry goods in his answer.
The details are as follows:
Individual tax is the most "personalized" tax system, but it is related to the vital rights and interests of the general public. The discussion about individual tax year after year mainly focuses on the topic of individual tax threshold, tax burden and taxpayer's rights and interests. At the two sessions this year, Yang Jianzhong, deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman of Juli Group Co., Ltd., suggested that the tax threshold should be the lowest 10000- 12000 yuan, so that people below middle income do not have to pay taxes; Huang Qifan, deputy to the National People's Congress and vice chairman of the NPC Financial and Economic Committee, suggested that the highest marginal tax rate of individual income tax should be reduced from 45% to 25% when deliberating the budget report.
Huang Qifan: It is suggested that the highest tax rate on wage income be lowered from 45% to 25%.
The tax threshold is raised from 3500 yuan to 10000- 12000 yuan, and the highest marginal tax rate is reduced from 45% to 25%. These are two very bold proposals. Whether such a bold tax reform proposal is reasonable or not needs more research and demonstration. But in any case, this reflects everyone's expectation for greater tax reform.
Last year, it was reported that the tax reform plan was coming, and "the high-income people with annual income of120,000 are the key adjustment groups", which triggered the anxiety of countless people for a time. The reason is that the definition standard of "annual income120,000" is easy to hurt the middle class by mistake.
The original intention of a tax is to take more than enough to make up for it. This "one take one supplement" should be combined with the goal of establishing a stable "olive society", giving greater policy tolerance to the middle-income class and expanding the number of middle-class people. This requires that the individual tax reform must first avoid making individual tax a "middle class tax", but take the protection and expansion of the middle class as the general direction. On the one hand, we must stabilize the group that has just entered the middle class; On the other hand, it is necessary to reduce the burden of groups that have not really become rich.
To uphold this idea, it is necessary to introduce more supporting implementation measures, so that individual taxes can be in line with international standards and public opinion demands.
First of all, the tax reform should solve the practical problems of asymmetric income information of taxpayers and great differentiation of tax avoidance means of different social groups. With the diversification of Chinese income structure, the single mode of calculating tax payment by wages in the past is obviously lagging behind. Therefore, Xiao Jie proposed that some income items, such as wages, salaries, remuneration for labor services, and remuneration for manuscripts, should be taxed on an annual basis. This is conducive to accurate taxation, and it also depends on accurate taxation to make middle and low-income people become "slimming" rather than "pumping fat".
Xiao Jie also pointed out that special expenses deduction items related to family livelihood will be appropriately increased, such as education expenses for two-child families. This idea of tax relief is based on "downward" nurturing groups. In addition, groups that support the elderly "upward" should also be taken into account. In particular, the deconstruction of the "42 1" family formed by the current one-child family-four elderly people, a couple and a child, has increased the burden of support and deserves more support, including tax relief.
After all, the cost of raising children and supporting the elderly in many middle-class families is too high, and individual taxes should reduce their burden.
Secondly, the tax reform needs to echo the reform of various income thresholds. At present, the personal income tax threshold for wages and salaries still stays at 3,500 yuan, which is an important reason why individual taxes become "payroll tax" and "middle class tax". In order to make it return to the "rich tax" standard, the dynamic adjustment of the threshold can not stay in place.
Not to mention, for many writers now, the tax threshold for remuneration is lower. Zhang Kangkang, member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Chinese Writers Association, submitted the proposal of "raising the tax threshold for remuneration" several times, and bluntly pointed out that1September 1980, when the Individual Income Tax Law was implemented, the tax threshold for remuneration, like wages and salaries, was 800 yuan, and the standard was still adopted 36 years ago. This is also dragging the writer out of the "middle class" team.
Finally, the expansion of individual tax collection needs to match the speed of tax relief measures, otherwise it may lead to an embarrassing situation of "urgent tax collection and slow tax relief". The time point of reform between the two should be coordinated and made clear.
Only by doing these three things well can the tax reform be as close as possible to the original intention and avoid accidentally hurting the middle class.
There should be greater progress in individual tax reform. At present, Minister Xiao Jie's response that individual tax reform is "under design" has reassured many people. The "portrait" of tax reform outlined by him has also brought more expectations to taxpayers. Whether this can ultimately achieve the goal of "protecting the weak and expanding the middle class" depends on the landing of the next tax reform boots. The suggestions made by the representatives of Huang Qifan and Yang Jianzhong reflect that there is still huge room for individual tax reform, and the intensity of individual tax reform can be greater in the future, which can truly meet the demands of the working class for reducing the burden.