Lou Jiwei: Only by transferring state-owned assets can we have the conditions to lower social security rates

Following the public support for the book-keeping "nominal account" of pension insurance at the end of last year, the Ministry of Finance announced on March 22 Minister Lou Jiwei once again made a public statement on "allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds." This shows that China’s pension insurance system has reached a moment when fundamental changes must be made in system design and financial arrangements.

Lou Jiwei said at the "China Development Forum" that only by allocating part of state-owned assets to supplement social insurance funds can we have the conditions to reduce social insurance rates in a timely manner. If state-owned assets are not allocated to fill the "gap", there will be no conditions for lowering rates.

In fact, the allocation of state-owned assets to supplement social security funds has formed a certain political awareness both in academia and decision-making circles, and has also been written into the communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee. However, But they are in a situation where "I only hear the sound of the stairs, but no one comes down". This time, with the Minister of Finance making such an open and direct statement, I wonder if this reform can be implemented as soon as possible.

When raising rates and expanding coverage are unrealistic, facing the imbalance of revenue and expenditure that pension insurance will face in the future, the government actually has only two options to choose from: First, allocate state-owned Assets are replenished, and the second is to continue to rely on financial cash subsidies.

Lou Jiwei obviously does not agree with the latter. He said that to strengthen personal responsibility, we must establish a system that can be actuarially balanced. The gap cannot be left entirely to the public finances, but actually to other taxpayers. Otherwise, it will not only be unfair, but also bring about public corruption. * Fiscal unsustainability and crisis of national governance.

Allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds seems to have become the only option. However, this road has been ill-fated for 17 years.

Discussions on allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds began in 1997, when China’s system of integrating accounting and accounting was established. Economists such as Wu Jinglian have made suggestions to the central government many times. But this reform has been stalled. Although it was included in the report of the Third Plenary Session of the CPC Central Committee in 2013, no relevant implementation plan has yet been seen.

In the meantime, although a plan was introduced in 2009 to reduce and transfer state-owned shares to supplement the social security fund, judging from the data released by the National Social Security Fund, the annual amount is only a few billion yuan, which is incompatible with the invisibility of pension funds. Debt is a drop in the bucket compared to that.

Lou Jiwei explained in detail the reasons why state-owned assets should replenish social security funds. Before China established the pension insurance system in 1997, state-owned enterprises and employees did not pay pension insurance premiums. When these employees entered the new pension insurance system, they were treated as contributions, which resulted in future generations having to increase their contribution rates to supplement the future of the elderly. The gap caused by payment.

Lou Jiwei believes that before 1997, employees did not pay pension insurance premiums, which actually made the costs of enterprises unreal, expanded the capital accumulation of state-owned enterprises, and also expanded the national fiscal revenue. At the same time, before 1997, a large amount of the national budget was invested in state-owned enterprises. Huge amounts of state-owned assets were created from these two channels.

“Allocating part of state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund is and should only be to address the gap in pension insurance funds caused by the deemed surrender.” Lou Jiwei said.

Regarding the issue of lowering the premium rate of pension insurance, Lou Jiwei said frankly that on the basis of "allocating part of state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund", there are conditions for lowering the premium rate of social insurance in a timely manner. If there is no There is no condition for lowering rates if allocations are made to fill the gap.

The most criticized aspect of the current social security system is that the total rate exceeds 40%. Among them, the employer accounts for the majority and has to bear 30%. The social security burden on enterprises is heavy and there are endless complaints. This year’s government work report proposed reducing unemployment insurance, work-related injury insurance and other payment rates. As for the pension insurance rates that companies are most looking forward to reducing, Yin Weimin, Minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, made it clear that pension rates will not be reduced this year.

Yang Yansui, director of the Employment and Social Security Research Center of Tsinghua University, said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that at a time when labor market supply is declining and labor costs are rising sharply, lowering social insurance rates has become an important step for enterprises to reduce costs. An important breakthrough in cost, but once it is reduced, the fund's balance of payments will increase, which becomes a dilemma.

Why should the decision-makers allocate state-owned assets to make up for the social security gap?

“The social security issue is originally a public finance issue, and everyone has the obligation to pay social security, but it is' "Wide coverage, low level." Nie Riming, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, pointed out that in other words, public finance is to provide a basic level of social insurance for everyone, rather than to make up for historical holes.

In his view, the gaps in today’s social security system are the historical debts owed during the restructuring of state-owned enterprises. “Allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds is actually repaying debts.”

"State-owned assets have grown from a few hundred million at the beginning to tens of trillions today. Part of it comes from the people's unique resources, and the other part comes from the 'elderly (retired employees)' labor force who contribute to state-owned enterprises.

"Hu Jiye, associate professor at the Law and Economic Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that state-owned enterprises did not pay for these "elderly people" at that time. Part of their capital accumulation was based on the "underpayment" of employee pension insurance. Now they should pay part of it. Assets as a reward for their pensions

Hu Jiye believes that on the one hand, the transfer of state-owned assets is to solve the debt owed by state-owned enterprises as "deemed annual payment", and the more profound significance is to alleviate the burden of young people. Burden.

At present, the sum of China’s five social insurance statutory contributions is equivalent to 40% of the salary level, and in some areas it even reaches 50%. He said, “Young people not only need to accumulate for their own retirement (individuals). Account), and also pay pensions for the elderly (social pooling), which actually bear the burden for two generations. When the 28% contribution was established in 1997, the gap issue was considered, so the current employees paid 3%-5% more, but now There are still gaps. ”

According to the “21st Century Business Herald” report, the question of where the trillion-dollar social security gap will come from has reached a consensus at the decision-making level.

Finance Minister Lou Ji Wei said at the "China Development Forum 2015" on March 22 that the social security gap cannot be left entirely to the public finance, and part of the state-owned assets should be allocated to supplement the social security fund.

Interviewed by reporters. Experts unanimously believe that taking advantage of the reform of state-owned enterprises and allocating state-owned assets to supplement the social security gap is a very correct move. It will not only help force the reform of state-owned enterprises, but also be a symptomatic strategy to solve the restructuring costs of "elderly".

< p> "Allocating part of the state-owned assets to supplement the social insurance fund is to address the gap in pension insurance funds caused by the deemed surrender, so that on this basis, we can have the conditions to reduce the social insurance rate in a timely manner," Lou Jiwei said. This task has a long way to go, "but China's population is aging rapidly, time is running out, and we must seize it." ”

Original intention: to repay the historical debts of the “elderly”

During this year’s two sessions, Hu Xiaoyi, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, once said that in order to ensure the balance of social security revenue and expenditure, “In addition to the current unit In addition to fee payment, personal payment, and financial subsidies, we will further expand new financing channels. "However, there is no clear statement on which financing channels to adopt.

This time Lou Jiwei's statement of using state-owned assets to raise funds seems to mean the initial achievement of political awareness.

Lou Jiwei emphasized at the meeting that now everyone often thinks that social insurance is a financial attribute of the public government. “First of all, social insurance is an attribute of insurance. This point must be emphasized, and actuarial balance must be adhered to. ”

“The social security issue is originally a public finance issue, and everyone has the obligation to pay social security, but it is ‘wide coverage and low level’. "Nie Riming, a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, pointed out that in other words, public finance is to guarantee a basic social insurance level for everyone, rather than to make up for historical holes.

In his view , the gap that exists in today’s social security system is the historical debt owed when state-owned enterprises were restructured. “Allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds is actually repaying debts. ”

“State-owned assets have grown from a few hundred million at the beginning to tens of trillions today. Part of it comes from the people’s unique resources, and the other part comes from the old people who have dedicated themselves to state-owned enterprises ( Retired employees)' workforce. "Hu Jiye, associate professor at the Law and Economic Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, said that state-owned enterprises did not pay for these "elderly people" at that time. Part of their capital accumulation was based on the "underpayment" of employee pension insurance. Now they should pay part of it. Assets as a reward for their pensions

Hu Jiye believes that on the one hand, the transfer of state-owned assets is to solve the debt owed by state-owned enterprises as "deemed annual payment", and the more profound significance is to alleviate the burden of young people. Burden.

At present, the sum of China’s five social insurance statutory contributions is equivalent to 40% of the salary level, and in some areas it even reaches 50%. He said, “Young people not only need to accumulate for their own retirement (individuals). Account), and also pay pensions for the elderly (social pooling), which actually bear the burden for two generations. When the 28% contribution was established in 1997, the gap issue was considered, so the current employees paid 3%-5% more, but now There are still gaps. ”

Method: or through equity transfer

In fact, the practice of allocating state-owned assets to supplement social security funds has been implemented at the local government level. As a supporting measure for the reform of state-owned enterprises, Shandong The provincial government recently issued the "Notice on the Plan for Transferring State-owned Capital of Provincial Enterprises to Enrich Social Security Funds", which requires that "30% of the state-owned capital of 471 provincial state-owned enterprises (including state-owned capital in state-owned holding enterprises) be transferred to "To replenish the provincial social security fund".

In the view of social security experts, the key to solving the problem is how state-owned capital supplements the social security fund.

In 2012, the then National Dai Xianglong, chairman of the Social Security Fund Council, has publicly stated that there are three ways to allocate state-owned assets to enrich the National Social Security Fund: First, improve the system of existing state-owned enterprises listing and allocating 10% of their shares or raised funds to the National Social Security Fund; The management measures formulated by the relevant departments of the State Council have been upgraded to special regulations of the State Council. The second is to allocate no less than 20% of profits from state-owned enterprises supervised by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council to the national social security fund.

The third is to transfer part of the shares of central enterprises (including financial enterprises) in which the state holds an excessive proportion of shares to the National Social Security Fund if necessary.

Hu Jiye, associate professor at the Law and Economic Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law, is a supporter of this measure. He called for the allocation of state-owned shares to replenish social security funds more than 10 years ago. Among the above three methods, he and Nie Riming both hold the same view. Allocating state-owned shares is the most stable and efficient way. "Allocating 20% ??of existing state-owned shares to supplement the social security fund, and 10% of the increase in newly listed stocks is not enough to make up for the gap." Hu Jiye suggested .

Hu Jiye said that my country’s current operating state-owned assets amount to more than 50 trillion, and the World Bank [Weibo] estimates that China’s pension gap is about 8 trillion to 10 trillion. “If we allocate 20%, that is, more than 10 trillion can basically cover the gap, and when the fund enters the stock market, it can avoid the depreciation problem of the fund, thereby establishing a virtuous cycle."

"There is uncertainty in the profits of state-owned enterprises. "Liquidating state-owned assets is actually an attack on the stock market, which is a stupid approach." He emphasized that the "Interim Measures for the Management of Reducing State-owned Shares to Raise Social Security Funds" issued in June 2001 is a lesson learned from the past, and it was required that the reduction of state-owned shares can be used as a pension insurance fund. However, after the policy was introduced, it was strongly rebounded by the securities market.