Recently, various localities have successively announced the "books" of fiscal revenue and expenditure in the first quarter, and most provinces have achieved positive revenue growth. Among them, the revenue growth rate of Henan and Ningxia exceeded 10%, Sichuan and Gansu exceeded 9%, and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Liaoning exceeded 7%. Expenditure in various places generally maintained a high intensity, and the growth rate of expenditure in Sichuan, Hubei, Gansu and other places even exceeded 15%. What kind of operation situation does the revenue and expenditure reflect the operation situation of local finance, and where should we start next? The Economic Daily reporter interviewed a number of experts in the field of finance.
Incomes have generally rebounded
Statistics from the Ministry of Finance show that in the first quarter, local general public budget revenue increased by 5%, and the growth rate of local revenue generally showed a general upward trend. The revenue growth rates in the eastern, central, western and northeastern regions were 4.3%, 5.8%, 5.3% and 9% respectively, and the cumulative growth rates were 1.2, 2.9, 2.8 and 2.9 percentage points higher than that from January to February, respectively. Experts generally believe that the nationwide fiscal revenue growth trend in the first quarter has been further established and consolidated.
"The 5% growth rate of local general public budget revenue in the first quarter is in line with the economic fundamentals that are stabilizing and rebounding, showing the momentum of economic recovery. At the same time, the rapid growth rate of 5% also reflects the determination and action of local governments to increase the organization of fiscal revenue. Feng Qiaobin, deputy director of the Macroeconomic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told reporters that from the perspective of tax revenue, value-added tax and enterprise income tax in many places increased rapidly in the first quarter, reflecting the accelerated recovery of market vitality and the improvement of enterprise development.
As the largest tax in China, value-added tax has outstanding performance in the fiscal "books" of various places in the first quarter. For example, Jiangsu's value-added tax revenue in the first quarter was 1260 billion yuan, an increase of 32.8%; Yunnan's value-added tax revenue in the first quarter was 166.2 billion yuan, an increase of 14.3%. "VAT in various places has generally maintained a growth trend, which on the one hand reflects the gradual improvement of the production and operation conditions of enterprises, and on the other hand, it also reflects the effect of deferred VAT payment by small and medium-sized enterprises in the manufacturing industry last year." Wang Dehua, a researcher at the Institute of Financial Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said.
In contrast, in some places, the growth rate of corporate income tax in the first quarter was low or even negative. For example, Hubei's corporate income tax (local division) in the first quarter was 110 billion yuan, down 13.1% year-on-year. Shaanxi's corporate income tax fell 4.05% in the first quarter. "This is mainly due to the impact of the epidemic in the fourth quarter of last year, and the decline in prepaid income due to poor corporate profitability." Wang Dehua analysis.
In addition to fundamental support, the recovery of fiscal revenue is also inseparable from the initiative of various localities. In the face of rigid payment pressure at the beginning of the year, all localities have generally tapped the potential for increasing revenue by strengthening the coordination of financial resources and further revitalizing assets. For example, Fujian actively revitalized the storage of state-owned resources (assets), and the income from the paid use of state-owned resources (assets) in the first quarter was 308.84 billion yuan, an increase of 62.6%. Jilin's income from the paid use of state-owned resources (assets) in the first quarter was 31.8 billion yuan, an increase of 5 million yuan or 37.6% year-on-year. Shanxi's non-tax revenue increased by 40.4% in the first quarter, increasing revenue by 73.3 billion yuan. "Local governments have actively raised funds through measures such as revitalizing assets to increase non-tax revenue, ensuring that the progress of fiscal expenditure is not affected." Wang Dehua said.
Experts generally believe that although the fiscal revenue situation in the first quarter has improved, it still faces pressure and challenges. "In addition to the growth of value-added tax and enterprise income tax in some places, the growth of other tax revenues has been slow or even declining, and the growth rate of non-tax revenue is significantly faster than that of tax revenue, which also reflects that the foundation for economic recovery is not yet solid, and efforts are needed to stabilize growth and stabilize the economy." Feng Qiaobin said.
In the first quarter, the budget revenue of local government funds was 9920 billion yuan, down 23.6% year-on-year, of which the income from the transfer of state-owned land use rights was 8728.27 billion yuan, down <>% year-on-year. "It can be seen that in the first quarter, the income of government funds, which mainly accounted for the income from the transfer of state-owned land use rights, was under greater pressure." Wang Dehua believes.
Bai Yanfeng, a professor at the School of Finance and Taxation of the Central University of Finance and Economics, said: "With the continuous recovery of the economy, the gradual recovery of the real estate secondary market, and the gradual formation of a new model for the development of the real estate industry, the sustainable operation of local finances is expected to improve. ”
Spending strengthens protection
In the first quarter, local general public budget expenditure was 60675,6.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2555.15%. All localities generally maintain a high intensity of expenditure in key areas such as basic people's livelihood, education, and science and technology. For example, Hubei's local general public budget expenditure in the first quarter was 2.25 billion yuan, an increase of 7.1762%, of which social security and employment expenditure increased by 95.7%. Shaanxi's general public budget expenditure in the first quarter was 89.125 billion yuan, an increase of 63.<>%, of which science and technology expenditure increased by <>.<>%. "Local fiscal expenditure continues to maintain rapid growth, health, social security, science and technology, agriculture, forestry and water expenditure growth accelerates, and financial public services and guarantee capabilities continue to increase." Zhang Yiqun, director of the Jilin Provincial Institute of Fiscal Science, said.
In the first quarter, the health sector was the bulk of spending in many places. For example, Beijing's health expenditure in the first quarter was 247.1 billion yuan, an increase of 23.6%. According to the relevant person in charge of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance, it is mainly used to support the implementation of various measures for the national epidemic prevention and control transition, concentrate on clearing the funds related to epidemic prevention and control in the previous year, and continue to improve the health service system. In addition, spending on social security and employment has generally grown rapidly. For example, Zhejiang's social security and employment expenditure in the first quarter was 543.63 billion yuan, an increase of 9.4%; Gansu's social security and employment expenditure in the first quarter was 295.9 billion yuan, an increase of 20%.
It is worth noting that many places experienced rapid growth in science and technology spending in the first quarter. For example, Henan's science and technology expenditure increased by 84.4% in the first quarter; Jilin's expenditure on science and technology in the first quarter was 7 million yuan, an increase of 6 million yuan year-on-year, an increase of 6.5 times, mainly supporting the increased expenditure on technological innovation and major scientific and technological projects. Experts believe that the rapid growth of science and technology expenditure in various places reflects the change of development concept, reflects that local governments pay more attention to scientific and technological innovation, and accelerate the transformation of regional economic development model from factor-driven to innovation-driven.
In order to better spend valuable financial funds on the "blade", all localities have increased innovation and exploration, and taken multiple measures to improve the quality and efficiency of expenditure. For example, Shanghai has further played the important role of budget performance management in optimizing the structure of fiscal expenditure and improving the quality of public services, and launched the implementation of the 2023 municipal financial evaluation work, involving 30 tasks, and the scale of funds increased by nearly 76% over the previous year.
Giving play to the role of the mechanism for direct financial funds is also an important starting point. Anhui has established a provincial-level direct fund project list management mechanism, and the cumulative expenditure of the province's direct funds in the first quarter was 650.3 billion yuan, with an expenditure progress of 45.7%, which was 20.7 percentage points higher than the sequential progress, better supporting the province's major strategic tasks, ensuring the financial operation of cities and counties, and implementing policies that benefit enterprises and the people.
"On the whole, the rapid growth of local general public budget expenditure in the first quarter reflects the strong implementation of proactive fiscal policies in various localities, maintaining high expenditure intensity, and effectively promoting economic recovery." While fully affirming the performance of local fiscal expenditure in the first quarter, Feng Qiaobin also pointed out that compared with people's livelihood expenditures such as health care and social security, investment-related expenditures such as infrastructure construction in some places need to be further strengthened. "Fiscal expenditure plays a mainstay role in stabilizing investment and stabilizing expectations, and all localities should further provoke the beam, continue to optimize the structure of expenditure, increase investment guarantees, and further promote the sustained improvement of the economy." Feng Qiaobin said.
System efforts are still needed
"Judging from the recovery of tourism during the May Day holiday, the improvement in economic growth expectations is expected to remain optimistic. With the effective implementation of various national macroeconomic policies for stable growth and the accelerated recovery of the real economy, the smooth operation of local finances will receive stronger support. Wang Dehua said.
Experts believe that to further promote the smooth and good operation of local finance, it is necessary to exert systematic synergy, focus on overcoming difficulties and blocking points, and achieve a virtuous circle of economy and finance. "From the perspective of the structure of fiscal revenue in various places in the first quarter, the proportion of tax revenue was relatively stable, but the growth rate of tax revenue and non-tax revenue in some places formed a large contrast, and the revenue from consumption tax, stamp duty, car purchase tax and resource tax fell by a large margin." Zhang Yiqun believes that this shows that the total amount and quality of fiscal revenue need to be further improved along with economic recovery.
"In the next step, all localities need to focus on solving key issues affecting economic recovery and development, such as expectations, income, and employment, and further consolidate the foundation for stable fiscal operation, while continuing to effectively implement active fiscal policies and promote the realization of benign economic and fiscal interaction." Feng Qiaobin said.
Since the beginning of this year, local financial departments and other departments have further strengthened coordination and linkage, come up with more real tricks, give play to the role of fiscal funds in guiding and leveraging, and implement stable expectations. For example, Chongqing will further play the role of government financing guarantee this year, and strive to add more than 250 billion yuan of financing guarantee business for small and micro enterprises and "three rural areas" throughout the year. As of the end of March, the cumulative guarantee scale of agricultural burden companies has exceeded 3.37 billion yuan, amplifying the effectiveness of the policy by more than 18 times.
Government procurement is further tilted towards small and medium-sized enterprises, injecting more confidence into the market. For example, Guangxi continued to implement measures such as "priority" in government procurement, "increase" in budget reservation, and "fast payment" of procurement funds for small and medium-sized enterprises this year, and the contract amount awarded to small and medium-sized micro enterprises in government procurement in the region in the first quarter was 158.61 billion yuan, accounting for 85.85% of the total government procurement amount in the region, further stimulating the vitality of market entities. Sichuan's financial department issued a special document requiring provincial-level procurement units to disclose the implementation of their own projects reserved for small and medium-sized enterprises in the previous year in accordance with regulations, and at the same time comprehensively use measures such as reserved procurement shares and price review preferences to further increase the share of contracts awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises in government procurement.
All localities are also moving forward to accelerate the release of special debts. On March 3, Hunan successfully tendered on the Shanghai Stock Exchange to issue 24.2023 billion yuan of new government special bonds in 108, with a total bidding volume of 75.2347 billion yuan, and a subscription multiple of 10.21 times. The 58 special bond projects issued this time are expected to drive a total investment of 90.462 billion yuan. In 30, the Ministry of Finance issued a new government special debt limit of 2023.933 billion yuan in Fujian Province in advance, and Fujian has issued 914.<> billion yuan of new special bonds in the first quarter, giving priority to supporting projects under construction and high maturity.
Insisting on "living a tight life" is also a common view among experts. "Although the fiscal operation of various localities has become more stable and revenue has continued to rise, all localities must continue to strictly implement the requirements of 'living a tight life', strictly control the expenditure threshold, give full play to the effective regulating role of active fiscal retention pressure, and effectively improve the efficiency of the use of fiscal funds." Zhang Yiqun said.
Dong Bijuan (Source: Economic Daily)