In January, the local government began to announce the fiscal revenue and expenditure for the whole year of last year, and many provinces experienced fiscal excess.
According to data from the Jilin Provincial Department of Finance, last year, local-level revenue (that is, local general public budget revenue) was 114.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. The budget at the beginning of the year was exceeded by 3.68 billion yuan.
Statistics from the Hainan Provincial Department of Finance show that last year, the province completed local general public budget revenue of 92.12 billion yuan, 109.6% of the annual budget and an increase of 6.15 billion yuan, exceeding the target at the beginning of the year.
The statistics of the first financial reporter found that the general public budget revenue in Fujian Province exceeded the budget at the beginning of the year by about 16.6 billion yuan, Shandong was overcharged by 39.6 billion yuan, and Zhejiang was overcharged by 58.3 billion yuan.
The New Budget Law clearly states that the so-called excess revenue refers to the part of the actual completion of the general public budget revenue at the same level that exceeds the budget revenue approved by the people's congress or its standing committee at the same level.
Professor Shi Zhengwen of China University of Political Science and Law told Yicai that because the current income of Chinese organizations is taxed according to the law, that is, the tax is levied according to the actual economic operation, it is normal to have a certain amount of fiscal excess, which also reflects the relatively good economic recovery last year. .
Of course, this is also related to the fact that last year, the local government was more cautious and prudent than before when compiling budgetary revenue in consideration of unpredictable factors such as the epidemic.
Budget revenue is only an expected target revenue, not a rigid or mandatory target, so it is normal to have a certain excess or short revenue.
In recent years, affected by the economic downturn, tax and fee reductions, etc., the growth of local fiscal revenue has been increasing. Especially in 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, local fiscal revenue rarely declined in that year, and many provinces lowered their revenue expectations that year.
With the staged results of epidemic prevention and control, the economy has recovered steadily, and fiscal revenue has also experienced a restorative growth.
Data from the Ministry of Finance shows that in the first 11 months of this year, the local general public budget revenue at this level was 10.286 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%.
Wang Zhenyu, dean of the Institute of Local Finance of Liaoning University, told Yicai that there are many reasons for the overpayment, which are related to factors such as economy, price, policy and caliber.
For example, the rise in commodity prices last year led to an increase in fiscal revenue.
China's good prevention and control of the epidemic, the full release of production capacity utilization, and the rapid growth of imports and exports are related.
Professor Deng Shulian from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics analyzed Yicai.com that the phenomenon of local fiscal over-revenue is relatively common, which is directly related to the rapid growth of fiscal revenue.
Rising commodity prices and strong export growth have both contributed to a rapid rise in income. Under the requirement of maintaining a stable macro tax burden, the scale of tax cuts and fee reductions has been reduced compared with the previous two years, which also provides policy conditions for fiscal revenue growth.
"In addition, fiscal expenditure has been suppressed to a certain extent. First, last year's fiscal policy paid more attention to preventing risks, and the thinking of tight living provided a policy basis for prudent fiscal expenditure. Second, the structure of fiscal expenditure has changed, and the proportion of infrastructure expenditure has dropped significantly. People's livelihood expenditure has become the focus." Deng Shulian said.
How are the local over-collected fiscal revenue generally used?
Shi Zhengwen said that before the implementation of the new budget law in 2015, because the previous budget law did not have corresponding regulations, and the excess revenue was not included in the budget, it was out of the supervision of the National People's Congress, and some places directly spent the excess revenue.
The new budget rules implemented in 2015 put an end to this phenomenon and regulate it.
Article 66 of the New Budget Law stipulates that any excess revenue in the annual execution of general public budgets at all levels can only be used to offset deficits or supplement the budget stabilization fund.
Shi Zhengwen said that after the economy entered the new normal, there has been no large-scale overpayment.
At present, excess revenue is used to offset deficits, which can reduce fiscal risks.
The excess revenue is used for the budget stabilization fund, which can be used to balance the budget in future years and reduce the revenue and expenditure gap.
Therefore, the excess income cannot be spent indiscriminately, and a budget must be used before it can be used.
At present, in addition to the general public budget revenue, the government also has government fund revenue and state-owned capital operating budget revenue mainly from land sales.
The implementation regulations of the new budget law also make it clear that if there is excess revenue in the annual implementation of the budget of government funds at all levels, they should be used in the next year and given priority to repay the corresponding special debts.
If there is any excess income in the annual execution of the state-owned capital operation budget at all levels, it shall be arranged for use in the next year.
Of course, there are also some places where fiscal shortfalls occur.
For example, Henan's general public budget revenue last year reached 434.74 billion yuan, and the budget revenue target at the beginning of the year was not met, but the difference was only one billion yuan.
Last year's flood situation and epidemic had a certain impact on Henan, and the local fiscal revenue may be affected by this.
Although there was a relatively high growth rate of local fiscal revenue last year, this was due to the low base in the previous year, and the average growth rate of fiscal revenue in the two years was still single digits.
Under the triple pressures of shrinking demand, supply shocks and weakening expectations, the economy is under great downward pressure this year. In order to bail out companies, a stronger tax and fee reduction policy will be introduced this year, which will put a certain pressure on local fiscal revenue.
Since the second half of last year, the land market has cooled down. Due to the lag in income, this will have a certain impact on land income this year.
For many places, the contradiction between fiscal revenue and expenditure this year is still relatively prominent.
Luo Zhiheng, deputy dean of Yuekai Securities Research Institute, predicts that general public budget revenue will grow by about 6% in 2022, and government fund budget revenue will decline sharply due to the cooling of the real estate market, and the year-on-year growth rate may be around -5%.