At present, high-level and international think tanks are not only an important symbol of national soft power and international discourse power, but also an important force to promote the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity. Therefore, the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee proposed to strengthen the construction of a new think tank with China characteristics and establish and improve the decision-making consultation system. In order to achieve this goal, we must constantly improve the corresponding policy support.

Demand Support Policy

With the scientific, professional and systematic enhancement of modern decision-making, it is urgent to formally regard the strategy of think tanks as an indispensable part of the decision-making system and form a "demand market" for policy consultation. In order to conform to this trend, it is urgent to realize the separation of "planning" and "breaking" in the decision-making process. In other words, the professional and technical argumentation work in the decision-making process (that is, "planning") is entrusted to a think tank with corresponding qualifications, and the role of the government lies in the selection of policy plans (that is, "breaking") and the implementation of decisions.

At present, the institutionalization of public policy consultation has become an important measure for many countries to realize scientific decision-making. The main way is for the government to purchase decision-making consultation services from think tanks. Drawing lessons from international experience, we should standardize the government's decision-making procedures, take the decision-making consultation of think tanks as a necessary link in decision-making, and the government should focus on the selection of policy programs and the implementation of decisions; Straighten out the relationship between the government and the think tank, with the government as the client of decision-making consulting service and the think tank as the trustee, and establish a contract-based partnership between them according to the Government Procurement Law; Establish and improve the channels for think tanks to make suggestions, make them regular, routine, diversified and dynamic, and treat all kinds of think tanks equally.

financial support policy

the source of research funds for think tanks has a great influence on their ideological tendency and the quality of decision-making consulting services, so many countries attach great importance to providing financial support for think tanks. For example, the National Science Foundation set up by the U.S. government holds more than one billion U.S. dollars each year to fund various think tanks, and the British government is the employer of one-third of the business of its own think tanks.

At present, most think tanks in China are affiliated to official and semi-official think tanks, and their research funds mainly come from the government's financial allocation. There are two disadvantages in this way of "supporting": first, the phenomenon of waiting, relying on and demanding think tanks is serious, and the enthusiasm and enterprise are insufficient; The second is to breed unhealthy trends such as taking relationships and entering through the back door. The phenomenon of "running money into the department" is also reflected in the field of think tanks. In this regard, we should change the funding method and replace the simple government financial allocation with competitive methods such as "science and technology plan" and "project support"; Through the forms of project bidding and declaration, instead of the common "default" and "task-based" methods, all kinds of think tanks can participate in the provision of decision-making consulting services on an equal footing; Set up a special fund for the development of non-governmental think tanks, give some financial support to non-governmental think tanks with outstanding contributions, and promote their growth into an important force in the field of think tanks in China.

tax support policy

compared with the general for-profit enterprises, think tanks have a weak profit-seeking tendency and a strong public welfare tendency, so many countries give some support in tax policies. In western developed countries, think tanks enjoy preferential policies of exemption from corporate income tax and property tax, and donations from companies and individuals to think tanks can be deducted from the tax payable. For example, Canada stipulates that small enterprises can return cash to the tax bureau with the certificate of consulting experts; The Japanese government gives certain tax incentives to domestic enterprises to undertake consulting business abroad.

at present, China's tax policy mainly involves a small number of private think tanks. According to the type of registration, China's private think tanks can be divided into private non-enterprise legal person type private think tanks and company law type private think tanks. According to the provisions of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, private non-enterprise legal-person folk think tanks are exempt from enterprise income tax, and the public welfare businesses they engage in enjoy preferential tax policies. However, there is no corresponding preferential tax policy for human-oriented folk think tanks in company law. In order to promote the development of human-oriented folk think tanks in company law, the financial funds it undertakes should be exempted from corporate income tax and be treated equally with other types of think tanks; Other public welfare research projects undertaken by it are given the same tax incentives as private non-enterprise legal person folk think tanks; Give appropriate tax relief to donations from enterprises, social organizations and individual citizens for public welfare research projects.

Information support policy

Whether comprehensive and accurate information can be obtained has a decisive impact on the survival and development of think tanks, so many countries attach great importance to giving information support. For example, the governments of western developed countries obtain relevant information about foreign consulting business or projects through foreign embassies, trade ministries, the United Nations and other international institutions, and then pass it on to various think tanks through relevant domestic departments. At the same time, western developed countries attach great importance to establishing various databases and online retrieval systems to collect, process and provide information for think tanks.

compared with this, our government's information support for think tanks is still weak. At present, governments at all levels mainly enjoy information oriented to operation and management, while information oriented to research and decision-making is relatively lacking. In addition, China is still lagging behind in the construction of large-scale databases and online retrieval systems, and the information sharing mechanism needed for the development of think tanks has not been fully established. In this regard, we should constantly improve the corresponding information support policies: first, further expand the scope of government information, and enjoy more information oriented to research and decision-making; Second, fully tap and make use of emerging information technologies such as the Internet, cloud computing and big data, accelerate the establishment of various large-scale databases and online retrieval systems, and build a digital information platform for think tanks; The third is to rationally allocate the funds for information disclosure of government departments, break down the barriers to the use of government information, and make all kinds of think tanks use all kinds of information equally and fully; The fourth is to explore the establishment of various think tank associations or think tank alliances, and fully gather the wisdom of experts, scholars, citizens, enterprises, officials and the media to realize information exchange and enjoy the results.

legal support policy

provides legal guarantee for think tanks to play their roles, and it is also an important measure for western developed countries to support the development of think tanks. For example, in the United States, consultation is a legal procedure in the process of government decision-making, and different consultation reports must be used as reference in all stages of government project demonstration, operation and performance evaluation; Since the 195s, Japan has successively formulated a series of laws and regulations, such as the Guidance Law for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the Implementation Outline of Diagnosis for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the Law on Rationalization of Enterprises and the Law on Comprehensive Research and Development Institutions, to provide legal support for the development of think tanks.

Compared with this, the legal support for think tanks in China is still very weak, and there are even laws and regulations that hinder the development of think tanks. For example, according to the current policy, it is difficult for private think tanks to be registered as private non-enterprise units (because it is difficult to find affiliated units) and enterprises (because it is difficult to survive because they cannot enjoy preferential policies in taxation, finance and social donations). In this regard, we should constantly improve the corresponding legal support policies: first, further improve the laws related to government decision-making, regard consultation as a statutory link of government decision-making, and run through all stages of government project demonstration, operation and performance evaluation; The second is to further improve the laws related to the socialist market economy, standardize the market behavior of various market entities, especially enterprises, and urge enterprises to take consultation as an important means to improve their operational efficiency; The third is to speed up the formulation of the Social Organization Law of the People's Republic of China, further relax the conditions for the registration of non-governmental think tanks as social organizations, and at the same time make necessary amendments to the Regulations on the Administration of the Registration of Companies of the People's Republic of China, so that people-oriented non-governmental think tanks in the company law can enjoy certain preferential policies in providing public welfare decision-making consulting services.