At present, although China has initially established a multi-level old-age insurance system framework, it has played a certain role in improving system efficiency, promoting fairness, ensuring stable social operation and preventing poverty among the elderly. However, there are still many problems in China's old-age insurance system.

First, the actual coverage is limited and the level of protection is low. At present, although China's basic old-age insurance has achieved full coverage in the system, it has not been realized in practice. 20 10 employees who participate in urban basic old-age insurance account for about 60% of all urban employees, while the coverage of basic old-age insurance for rural, migrant workers and urban unemployed people is even lower, and the proportion of migrant workers who participate in basic old-age insurance is only 13.6%. According to Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's estimation, the average replacement rate of basic pension for urban workers is less than 50%. The development of enterprise annuity and commercial endowment insurance is slow, and the replacement rate of pension is very low. According to international experience, if the pension replacement rate is above 70% after retirement, the existing living standard before retirement can be maintained; If it reaches 60% ~ 70%, it can maintain the basic living standard; If it is less than 50%, the living standard will be significantly lower than before retirement.

Second, there are huge hidden debts and "empty accounts" in the basic endowment insurance. Affected by the original "historical debt" problem and the accelerated aging, China's basic pension implicit debt is huge. According to the calculation of the World Bank in 2005, the discounted value of China's pension gap from 200/kloc-0 to 2075 will reach 9 15 trillion yuan. Due to the combination of individual account fund and overall fund in China, the individual account fund is overdrawn under the condition of insufficient overall fund, which leads to the "empty account" operation of individual account and poses great hidden dangers to the sustainability of China's endowment insurance system. Taking the data of 2009 as an example, although 13 provinces and cities in China have realized individual account funds157 billion yuan to varying degrees, they only account for 8.9% of the accumulated individual account1760.9 billion yuan, and the amount of "empty accounts" is still as high as 16039 billion yuan.

Third, the development of enterprise annuity and commercial annuity insurance is slow. At present, the number of people participating in enterprise annuity accounts for only 5% ~ 6% of those participating in basic old-age insurance. The key reason for this situation is that the preferential tax policies are not in place, which directly affects the enthusiasm of enterprises and individuals to participate in enterprise annuity plans and inhibits the demand for endowment insurance. At present, China basically implements the TEE model for enterprise annuities. In the payment of enterprise annuity, the tax exemption amount of enterprises is only less than 5% of the total wages of employees, and individuals are not included in the tax exemption. For commercial annuity insurance, TTT mode is implemented, and individuals who purchase insurance are not exempt from tax, only some types of life insurance companies are exempt from tax, and corporate income tax is still levied. In addition, the poor awareness of national insurance and the single commercial annuity insurance products are also one of the reasons.

Fourth, the investment efficiency of the basic endowment insurance fund is low. At present, the use of the basic old-age insurance fund is limited to the purchase of government bonds and deposit in special accounts, and the investment income is low, so it is difficult to maintain and increase the value. 20 10 On April 20th, China Academy of Social Sciences issued the Green Paper on Social Security 20 10 (China Social Security Development Report: Let Everyone Enjoy Fair Social Security), pointing out that the actual rate of return of individual account funds for basic old-age insurance is less than 2%, while the weighted inflation rate has reached 2.2% since 2005. This shows that the endowment insurance fund has not only failed to maintain and increase its value according to the original intention of the system, but is in a shrinking state, and the low income of personal accounts actually produces reverse incentives.

Second, some policy suggestions to improve China's old-age insurance system.

First, expand the coverage of basic old-age insurance and improve the level of overall planning. Accelerate the work of basic old-age insurance in urban and rural areas, expand the coverage of old-age insurance, improve the level of protection, narrow the gap between different regions and different systems, and realize the fairness of protection. According to Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the basic old-age insurance will achieve low-level full coverage in 20 12 years. At the same time, the basic old-age insurance has achieved national overall planning and enhanced the mobility between regions and between urban and rural areas.

The second is to provide tax incentives. Tax incentives have played an important role in promoting the development of annuities. In order to stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises and individuals to participate in enterprise annuity and purchase commercial endowment insurance, cope with the aging trend and promote the rapid development of annuity, it is necessary to formulate preferential tax policies as soon as possible. Considering the long implementation period of the annuity plan, the China State Council can grant tax exemption authorization by the Individual Income Tax Law, and the relevant departments in the State Council will announce the implementation of appropriate tax reduction and exemption in the issuance of individual annuities, and at the same time strengthen the infrastructure of the tax system to create conditions for the implementation of the EET tax model for annuities.

The third is to improve the investment and operation mechanism of the endowment insurance fund. The effective investment and operation of endowment insurance fund is an important guarantee to ensure the sustainable development of endowment insurance. We should learn from different international models, refer to the investment and operation experience of the National Social Security Fund Council, combine with China's reality, adhere to the prudent principle of safety first, and on the basis of in-depth study of the investment and operation mechanism, management system and cost-benefit comparison of the basic old-age insurance fund, make clear the investment and operation mode of the basic old-age insurance fund which is suitable for China's national conditions, has a high starting point and strict supervision, steadily expand investment channels, realize preservation and appreciation, and alleviate the pension gap.

The fourth is to strengthen cooperation between relevant parties. The old-age insurance system is a grand systematic project, involving finance, taxation, politics and law. All relevant departments should study together, distinguish responsibilities, cooperate with each other, and actively promote the coordinated development of basic old-age insurance, supplementary old-age insurance (annuity) and personal savings insurance.