Macro tax burden refers to the proportion of a country's tax burden in gross domestic product (GDP) or gross national income. There are several calculation standards for the tax burden level in China:
Small caliber: directly calculating the proportion of tax revenue to GDP is a way to directly reflect the tax level.
Narrow caliber: directly calculate the proportion of fiscal revenue (tax revenue+non-tax revenue) to GDP. This is a way to directly reflect the general tax burden level.
Medium caliber, that is, calculate the ratio of the sum of fiscal revenue and social security fund income to GDP. This is because some countries, such as the United States, list social security as payroll tax, and for comparison with the same caliber, social security funds are also included.
Wide caliber, that is, the sum of all government revenues calculated by GDP. The government revenue here in China mainly refers to: general budget revenue (fiscal revenue)+social security fund revenue+government fund revenue+state-owned capital revenue.
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(Note: Social security funds and state-owned capital income are partly financial subsidies, so the actual value is slightly smaller due to double calculation of medium caliber and wide caliber. )
As can be seen from this table, China's direct tax revenue level is very low, not only lower than the world average, but even lower than many third world countries. It can even be said that China is a low-tax country. However, in addition to taxes, other revenues of the China government are very high. The sum of non-tax revenue, social security fund revenue and government fund revenue is almost equal to tax revenue.
When the media use the concept of macro tax burden, they usually use a broad caliber directly. Thus, China's tax burden is really heavy. However, it can be seen from the wide-caliber calculation standard that both government fund income and state-owned capital income are calculated with wide caliber. Most of the income of government funds comes from the sale of state-owned land, which is commonly referred to as land sales income. In recent five years, the income from the transfer of state-owned land accounted for 72.7 1%, 74.80%, 74.89%, 76.5438+0. 1% and 75.29% of the total government fund income respectively. These two items are unique to China, so it is obviously unreasonable to regard land sales income and state-owned capital income as tax burden.
Therefore, a reasonable macro tax burden indicator should be medium caliber, that is, taking fiscal revenue+social security fund income as the calculation standard, 29.35% in 20 15 years, far below the world average of 38.8%.
As can be seen from the above, the actual tax burden in China is not high, and the direct tax is even less. It is impossible to reduce the burden on enterprises by reducing taxes.
Secondly, why do people feel that the tax burden in China is very high?
From the data point of view, the government does not levy too many taxes on the society, but why do people generally feel that the tax burden is heavy? The answer is that the tax arrangement of value-added tax and business tax has superimposed the rapid growth of labor costs in recent years. Boss Cao's video not only embodies universal objectivity, but also has its own particularity.
1. Value-added tax is a turnover tax based on the value-added amount of goods (including services) generated in the circulation process. In the process of commodity circulation, value-added tax is levied and deducted by the ring. When the terminal does not deduct, it shall be borne by the terminal enterprise and consumers. Therefore, it has the function of transfer and accumulation. In layman's terms, the tax burden is easily passed on to downstream enterprises. The more downstream enterprises, the more tax burden costs of upstream enterprises, which will ultimately be borne by end consumers. This is one of the reasons why China, as a factory in the world, has more expensive end products than foreign countries. As far as boss Cao is concerned, the value-added tax in his export products cannot be deducted. Although there is a tax refund, there is still a 4% difference and capital occupation in the tax refund. Therefore, as a big exporter, Boss Cao will feel a heavy tax burden.
2. Business tax is also turnover tax. Like value-added tax, it has the function of tax transfer and accumulation and cannot be deducted. It is also borne by terminal enterprises and consumers.
3. Labor costs have soared. This year, China's labor costs have soared, and the increase in labor costs will inevitably be reflected in the sales price of goods in the form of labor appreciation, and the corresponding value-added tax will be levied. Therefore, the more labor-intensive industrial enterprises are, not only will their labor costs and commodity prices rise, but the corresponding labor value-added part will also increase, and of course the value-added tax will also increase.
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Judging from this figure, the growth rate of tax revenue in China is slowing down year by year, but the growth rate of personal income tax and social security fund income, which reflects the rising labor cost, has not decreased but increased in the past three years.
4. Overcapacity, increased inventory, resulting in serious tax funds occupation. Value-added tax is levied and deducted when enterprises import and export. Overcapacity, increased inventory and sluggish sales mean that enterprises occupy a large amount of prepaid input tax, but lack the deduction of output. The time cost of tax-included funds is very high. Theoretically speaking, when the economy is depressed, the business activities of enterprises shrink and the input-output projects shrink, so the tax payable will naturally decrease. However, due to the prosperity of the previous decade, enterprises expanded blindly, overcapacity led to an increase in inventory, and the time-consuming cost of tax funds increased sharply. Can enterprises not feel the heavy tax burden?
5. Asset prices have gone up. Needless to say, this is the soaring asset prices represented by real estate. China's value-added tax is a production-oriented value-added tax, and the deduction of asset value-added tax is seriously insufficient. Therefore, the purchase of assets and raw materials by enterprises must include these direct and indirect VAT costs.
6. The progress of tax legislation is slow. Grass-roots governments, including tax departments, have great discretion, and extra-tax charges and tax inspection and punishment are arbitrary. All these have led to the increase of hidden burden outside tax.
Because most of us are end consumers and employees, and we are also in contact with terminal manufacturers, the increase in labor costs, social security and other costs is very obvious, so our intuitive feeling of tax burden is particularly strong.
The reform of the camp has only alleviated some tax transfer functions, and it is a minor repair, but it has not fundamentally changed the problems reflected in this tax system under the current situation. Tax reform is still necessary. So should we put all the boards on the value-added tax? How about canceling value-added tax and levying consumption tax, with income tax as the main body, as called for by Boss Cao and some media?
3. VAT or consumption tax and income tax?
Most tax-related articles are only technical discussions, and they do not solve the two problems of why and purpose. Any tax is a double-edged sword, with advantages and disadvantages.
1. Why not levy consumption tax directly? As can be seen from the above, the ultimate undertaker of value-added tax is the final consumer, which actually becomes the consumption tax levied in the price. Then why not levy consumption tax directly? Because China's tax compliance is relatively low, it can only be taxed in multiple links. Generally speaking, the awareness of paying taxes according to regulations is relatively weak, and the cost of tax supervision is high. Therefore, after the tax inspection has been a little stricter in recent years, everyone generally feels unbearable.
For example, a commodity has gone through 10 links from raw material 10 yuan to final commodity 100 yuan. If a single link is taxed and only the consumption tax of 17% is levied on the final commodity sales, the tax amount is 17 yuan. If we levy 17% VAT on each link, it will be: link110 *17% =1.7 yuan; Link 2: 20 *17%-10 *17% =1.7 yuan; Link 3 30 *17%-20 *17% =1.7 yuan; ..... cumulative tax or 17 yuan. It can be seen that the tax amount of the two is the same, while the tax increase method of value-added tax is more complicated, with more tax links and higher tax cost. Then why choose this way? Because if single-link taxation is adopted, once it is omitted without respecting the tax law, the tax revenue of the whole industrial chain will be lost, while if multi-link taxation is adopted, even if one link is omitted, it will not lose too much. Therefore, countries with high tax respect, such as the United States and Japan, focus on single-link taxation. You know, our country respects the tax law. ...
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