Literature review on social security tax

211-11-16 8:52 Yao Jinren's printing of large, medium and small, I want to correct mistakes

Abstract: This paper reviews and summarizes the relevant research on social security tax in the context of time, and seeks the internal logic between the research results in different aspects according to the research priorities in different periods. On the one hand, it reviews the literature that demonstrates the necessity of social security tax, and sorts out the optimal social security tax design proposed by contemporary western literature; On the other hand, it focuses on various domestic literature on social security tax. This paper discusses the necessity and feasibility of levying social security tax, and discusses the supporting and opposing opinions of changing social security fees into taxes; On this basis, the further research direction in the future is summarized and put forward.

Keywords: social security tax; Social security fee; Literature review

The collection of social security tax should be adapted to a country's national conditions, economic development level and times, and related research literature also embodies this feature. The early research abroad is mainly reflected in the research on the significance of social security tax, while the contemporary research is mainly reflected in whether the social security tax is the best financing method, to what extent the social security tax should be the best, and how to reform the social security tax to achieve the best. At this stage, the focus of domestic research in China is on whether social security tax should be levied, whether the conditions for levying social security tax are mature at this stage, how to design the tax system after levying it, and how to improve relevant systems.

I. Current situation of foreign research

(I) Early research on social security system

Early research first involves the research on social security system, and the emergence of western social security theory has experienced a development process from denying social relief to advocating social welfare thought. British and French classical economists denied the social relief system, and then German historical school, socialist political economy, welfare economics and Keynesianism all discussed the foundation and significance of the existence of social security tax from different angles.

1. Classical economists in Britain and France deny the function of social relief system, and they think that social security has caused great harm to the intended beneficiaries, and this system has weakened the individual's enterprising and self-reliant spirit. On the other hand, the German historical school advocates the social security thought of national welfare, and its representative, Lujo

Brentano(1892), and others think that all the goals that individuals can't achieve or can't achieve smoothly should be completed by the state. The state must enact labor insurance law and widows' relief law to improve social welfare and implement social reform.

2. Marx (1885), the founder of socialist political economy, put forward the necessity of setting up a social security fund from the perspective of the theory of social necessity deduction. He believed that the consumed means of production, the expanded production and the reserve fund or insurance fund to cope with unfortunate accidents and natural disasters must be deducted from the total social products before distribution. Marx's necessary deduction theory established the guiding ideology for the social security practice in later socialist countries.

3. The theory of state intervention in economy put forward by Keynes (1933) in General Theory has become the theoretical basis for the existence of social security system for a long time. Keynes believed that in order to stimulate demand, the government should directly organize public projects, expand social welfare facilities, increase consumption tendency, and achieve sufficient total demand and full employment. Therefore, social security occupies a very important position. By raising social security funds and developing social welfare, the total demand can be expanded and the macroeconomic balance can be achieved. At the same time, he raised the issue of social security tax and suggested implementing a progressive tax system. After the Second World War, Keynesian theory provided a theoretical basis for levying social security tax, establishing welfare state and national public policies. Keynes's thought was later adopted by many countries such as the United States and Britain, especially in the plan put forward by beveridge (1942) in Britain, which advocated the establishment of six principles of social security system to implement comprehensive social welfare. In order to ensure the implementation of the plan and raise the necessary social security funds, a complete social security tax system must be established. Arrow(1963), an American economist, published The Welfare Economics of Uncertainty and Medical Insurance, which raised the issues of "adverse selection" and "moral hazard" and enriched the theory of "market failure". He believed that private insurance and commercial insurance were not enough to ensure social stability, so social security tax should be levied and national security should be implemented. Akerlof, an American economist who won the Nobel Prize in T ~ J in 21, also demonstrated this view from the perspective of information asymmetry.

4. Welfare economics expounds the importance of social security from the perspective of maximizing individual utility. Pigou (1972) is a representative figure of this school. He believes that in order to increase national welfare, besides increasing national income, it can also ensure the fairness of income distribution to achieve this goal. He advocates that the state should intervene in redistribution or secondary distribution through taxation. We should increase the absolute share of the real income of the poor to increase social welfare without reducing the total national income. On this basis, he put forward the theory of transfer payment and some social welfare, which had an important impact on the social security and the levy of social security tax in welfare countries. Similarly, the Swedish school is also an important advocate of promoting the social security system, and Wicksell (1983), the representative of this school, expounded this idea. The economic system theory of "liberal social democracy" is the theoretical basis of Sweden's welfare system, which advocates expanding the public sector and implementing the income redistribution policy.

(II) Contemporary research on social security tax

In recent years, with a series of problems in the process of levying and implementing social security tax, there have also been some new changes and adjustments in this aspect, mainly focusing on whether social security tax is the best financing method, to what extent the social security system should protect citizens, and how to reform social security tax to achieve the best.

1. Research on whether social security tax is the best way to raise funds. Stephen

Nickell(1997) thinks that the high unemployment rate is directly related to the generous and unrestricted distribution of relief, so the social security tax rate should be reduced and the social security expenditure should be cut. James

E.Mc-Clure and T.Norman Van

Cott(2) think that the social security tax itself has some disadvantages, which makes it unfair for employers and employees to pay taxes repeatedly with other taxes: because the social security tax law is shared by employers and employees, the employer's share can be deducted before corporate income tax, while the employee's share cannot be deducted before personal income tax, resulting in Therefore, it is suggested that the social security tax can be replaced by taxes that will not produce unfair tax burden (such as state or local income tax) or taxes with less unfair tax burden.

2. Research on the degree of social security system. Rodrigo

A.Cerda(25) discusses that the blind pursuit of social equity and neglect of social efficiency in the social security system will inevitably lead to the unsustainability of the system, and holds that under the installment social security system, social security will affect people's economic decision-making and reproductive decision-making, thus affecting the population structure and labor market, reducing the social security tax base, and further reducing the long-term social security payment. In this case, the government often chooses to increase the social security tax rate to meet the needs of social security funds, and the increased tax rate will affect people's economic and reproductive decisions, resulting in a vicious circle, which will eventually lead to the unsustainability of this security system.

3. Research on how to improve the social security tax system. Joseph A. Pechman (1994) suggested that the salary tax reform in the United States should completely abolish the upper limit of salary income, reduce its diminishing nature, and turn it into a progressive salary income tax, or replace the salary tax with income tax and general budget fund. Alison

Chopel, Nozomu Kuno and Sven StEinmo(25) advocated the reform of social security system to a certain extent: because the welfare benefits of the old-age care system are higher than the basic needs of the elderly, which is inconsistent with the current situation of the elderly; At this time, the working group is under great pressure in all aspects, and needs to raise children, repay loans, pay taxes, etc. This group needs to decompress; In addition, the increase in the number of other groups (such as single mothers, homeless people, etc.) also needs more help from the government; However, the government's fiscal deficit has increased sharply in recent years, and it is necessary to reduce the government's financial burden. In this case, it is necessary to adjust the items and tax rates of social security tax to make it play a better role without increasing the burden on the government.

Second, the domestic research status quo

The research on China's social security tax began in the 199s, and the issues debated by scholars mainly involve whether social security tax should be levied, whether the conditions for levying social security tax are mature at this stage, how to design the tax system after levying it, and how to improve relevant systems.

1. Study on the urgency, necessity and significance of levying social security tax. Qu Shunlan (21) thinks that a sound social security system is the inherent requirement of the market economy system and the "stabilizer" and "safety net" of the market economy. Levying social security tax can give people a sense of security for their future expectations, which will inevitably stimulate consumption and promote economic development. Ma Jie (21) thinks that the social security system is a kind of public product, which will have external positive effects. Therefore, the supply and demand can not be regulated by the price system, and the government should produce and supply this product. People have the same situation of hitchhiking when consuming this public product as other public products. Therefore, social security funds need to be raised by tax means. Huang Xuming (21) thinks that after China's entry into WTO, levying social security tax is conducive to international integration, fair competition between domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, building people's confidence in social security, stimulating consumption and promoting economic development. Pang Fengxi (21) and other scholars believe that as a means of raising social security funds, the mandatory and normative nature of social security tax is conducive to strengthening the collection of funds; The implementation of budget management with two lines of revenue and expenditure is conducive to ensuring the safety of social security funds; In the process of tax collection, giving full play to the advantages of tax departments in collection and management experience, personnel quality and institutional system is conducive to reducing the cost of financing. Wang Hongmin and Gao Xiaohui (26) believe that the social security system is the core index of building a harmonious society, so "building a harmonious society" requires a good construction of the social security system. However, judging from the situation of China's economic and social development, the lack of funds is the main factor restricting the development of this system. Therefore, in order to build a harmonious society, it is particularly urgent to raise social security funds, that is, it is urgent to levy social security tax and establish a scientific and reasonable tax structure. Wang Jidong (26) thinks that levying social security tax can not only ensure the stable source of social security funds, but also strengthen the social legal status of social security funds. At present, China's tax sources are sufficient, the social environment is becoming more and more complete, and the conditions for levying social security tax are fully met. The Social Security Law should be promulgated as soon as possible, so that there are laws to follow. Zhang Junfang (26) pointed out that levying social security tax is a necessary condition to protect the rights and interests of employees and build a harmonious society. Levying social security tax will help to make full use of the government's administrative resources and improve the collection efficiency.

2. Research on supporting social security tax. This view holds that there are many problems in the current social security fee system, and taxes should be used to replace fees. Huang Gangping (2) believes that the key to expanding domestic demand is to establish and improve the social security mechanism. However, the current method is not conducive to the development of social security because of the lack of rigid constraints, and the way of raising fees has not adapted to the requirements of economic system reform. Levying social security tax is beneficial to the benign operation of social security mechanism. Hu Angang (21) is the main representative who advocated levying social security tax in China. He advocated levying social security tax, and the state should formulate unified standards, uniformly collect, uniformly manage and adjust the use. He believes that China has the basic conditions for levying social security tax, and it is necessary to levy a unified and compulsory social security tax as soon as possible, and puts forward some policy suggestions for levying social security tax. Xu Juan and Wang Shuai (25) believe that the current social security fund is levied in the form of fees, which leads to the lack of stability of the social security fund, and it is the general trend to levy social security tax as soon as possible. Mao Jianping (26) believes that China's current social security fee collection and management system has exposed many drawbacks and problems. The state's investment in social security is insufficient, the fund gap required for social security is large, the coverage is narrow, and the level of protection is low. Zhuo Wang (26) believes that the total amount of social security funds is small, and the coverage is narrow, while the demand for social security funds from all members of society is strong, which leads to the contradiction between supply and demand, and the collection of social security funds is not mandatory, and the collection and management efficiency is low. Run Xiaoli (26) pointed out that the main problems in raising social security funds in China at present are the lack of clear legal basis, and the methods of raising funds are mostly decided by local governments, which is difficult to achieve results; The fund-raising mechanism is not standardized, the burden varies among regions, departments and industries, the overall planning is narrow, the scope of social mutual assistance is small, the multi-head management is self-supporting, and there is no macro-control and supervision mechanism, so crowding and misappropriation occur from time to time. The contradiction between pay-as-you-go generation payment and social aging has not been fundamentally changed, and the rights and obligations of participating in insurance are not transparent enough, which affects the enthusiasm of participating in insurance. As far as the benefits of levying social security tax are concerned, Chen Cheng and Deng Qian (28) think that changing social insurance premium into tax is beneficial to raising social security funds. Because of its high legal level, strong authority, openness, fairness and timeliness and stability of organizational income, it is conducive to promoting social horizontal fairness to a certain extent and preventing the gap between the rich and the poor from further widening in China.

3. Research on being cautious about social security tax. This view holds that although it is the general trend to change social security fees into taxes, China does not yet have the conditions to levy social security taxes. Judging from the expectation of tax function, Ma Jie (21) proposed that although it is imperative to change fees into taxes, the expectation of "changing fees into taxes" should be lowered. Deng Ziji (22), a well-known economist and professor of Xiamen University, thinks that it is not easy to determine an appropriate tax rate so as not to crowd out the personal savings under the compulsory pension plan under the circumstances that the pension fund gap is large, the coverage of pension insurance is not wide, the problem of aging population will gradually reach its peak in the next two or three decades, the accumulation of pension funds in various provinces and cities is uneven, and the basic social insurance level varies greatly from place to place. Zhu Zhiqiang (24) thinks that whether to levy social security tax should be carefully considered, because if the fee is changed to tax, on the one hand, the scale and staffing of tax authorities are bound to expand and increase due to the increase of work burden, and more funds are needed to compensate, and the tax cost will rise accordingly; On the other hand, due to the weakening of the previous mechanism of multi-sectoral mutual supervision of social security funds, the risk of the loss of social security funds will inevitably increase, and this risk can only be ultimately