More than 17,000 large-scale "corporate cost" surveys revealed:
The improvement of the business environment still has the "last mile" problem
"Due to frequent revisions of the documents, the policy lacks continuity." According to the 2020 "Corporate Cost" Survey Report of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Science of the Ministry of Finance, especially for policies involving multiple departments, relevant measures proposed by various departments have "policies" The phenomenon of "inconsistency" and "multiple political outreach" has caused some policies to be introduced that have left grassroots approval departments or enterprises at a loss.
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The economist Hernando de Soto once carried out an experiment in Peru: He commissioned a team to go through the procedures required to establish a garment factory in order to understand the time required to establish such a company locally. The result was It takes 289 days.
In Beijing, China, on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, this process has now been compressed to four working days.
China has become the economy with the largest improvement in the business environment since 2005 among large economies.
Everyone hopes that such reforms can go further.
Deepening the reform of "delegating power, regulating services, and optimizing the business environment" is the key to stimulating the vitality of market players and developing endogenous power.
The current domestic and international environment facing my country's development is complex and severe, and it is particularly important and urgent to accelerate reforms in related fields.
The "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and Long-Term Goals for 2035" puts forward a series of strategic measures to stimulate the vitality of market micro entities, which are important for scientifically understanding the relationship between the market and the government. Deepening the reform of the business environment and promoting the transformation of government functions have the effect of connecting the past and the future.
In November 2020, the Ministry of Finance and the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences launched a large-scale survey of "corporate costs" and formed the "research report on "corporate costs" in 2020" (hereinafter referred to as the "report").
A team in the research team focused on the "business environment and institutional costs". They went to Hunan, Anhui, Shandong and Liaoning 4 provinces and 7 cities government departments and 37 typical companies for in-depth investigations, and conducted online questionnaires across the country. More than 17,000 companies were surveyed, with the aim to better understand the progress of the current business environment reform and its existing problems.
Zhao Zhigang, a member of the research team and head of the Finance and Accounting Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, described their research results to a reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily: The business environment in various places is indeed improving significantly, but there is still a "last one" With regard to the kilometer issue, companies still call "thirsty".
"Stuck in the policy"?
In recent years, the central and local governments at all levels have attached great importance to the construction of the business environment and have successively issued a series of policy documents.
Take a province in the central region as an example. From 2018 to September 2020, the province and its cities and prefectures issued as many as 188 policy documents on optimizing the business environment, including 69 business environment documents, 75 decentralization and service documents, 44 copies of tax and fee reduction documents.
“Due to frequent revisions of the documents, the policy lacks continuity. According to some departments of the province, the policy was renewed in less than two years at the provincial level. In some areas, new officials still ignore the old accounts, and the policy changes when it changes. The "Report" pointed out that, especially for policies involving multiple departments, the relevant measures proposed by various departments have the phenomenon of "policy inconsistency" and "multiple politics". Some departments even do not know that another department has issued relevant policies. Some of the policies that led to the promulgation made the grass-roots approval departments or enterprises at a loss.
For example, in the field of engineering construction, the province is implementing "reduction of processes, links, and materials" and reengineering the approval process to reduce approval time. At the same time, it also requires cancellation of construction drawing reviews.
However, this operation does not comply with the current legal system. Therefore, despite the requirements of reform and innovation, the higher-level system is still binding, causing the grassroots approval personnel to be at a loss.
Zhao Zhigang is deeply impressed by the enjoyment and approval of cross-departmental policies. In his research, he found that many of the pain points of enterprises are related to this, and it is not uncommon to stipulate "fights".
One case they encountered in Hefei, Anhui was very representative.
Someone wants to open a training school involving three departments: the Market Supervision Bureau, the Social Affairs Bureau, and the Construction Bureau.
To verify the name of the school, the Market Supervision Bureau needs a business license to apply for a school permit, while the Social Affairs Bureau requires a school permit to apply for a business license. Here is a "dead loop".
Later, after coordination, it is possible to apply for a school permit first. However, in accordance with the current management regulations, the prerequisite for applying for a school permit is to have fire protection inspection and acceptance, which is managed by the construction department.
According to the requirements of the Construction Law, a construction permit is required for a site with an area of more than 300 square meters for fire control acceptance, and a business license is also required for the construction permit.
"The approval process was because the business license could not be applied, and the online application process fell into a "definite loop"." Zhao Zhigang said that later, the approval department adopted the method of "one matter, one discussion" online to complete the approval through offline coordination, but this was not abnormal. Chemical response mechanism.
Can we improve the “inclusiveness” and “resilience” of dealing with various exceptions for approval by improving the systems and regulations of higher-level governments to coordinate various departments?
In addition, the "last mile" of policy implementation is the focus of attention of entrepreneurs.
The policy implementation ability of the grassroots departments, and the enterprise's ability to understand and implement policies, all determine the ultimate effect of the policy.
However, the survey found that there are still insufficient capabilities in grassroots government departments and enterprises, which has affected the implementation of the policy.
A grassroots department in the underdeveloped areas of central China told the research team that the current emphasis on the business environment is “hot at the upper level, cold at the middle level, and muddy at the grassroots level”. The central, provincial and municipal levels all attach great importance to the business environment, but the county level The department's attitude towards this has begun to become colder, and it will be "fooled" at the basic-level departments such as the streets and towns.
At the same time, the rights and responsibilities of the grassroots are asymmetry, there is a "small horse-drawn cart" problem, and the ability to respond to certain administrative powers is insufficient.
Even more critical is to enjoy the "invisible threshold" of the policy.
For example, policies for corporate loan interest discounts still require complicated application procedures and submit a large number of application materials.
Small and micro enterprises originally had very few financial personnel and limited professional capabilities, so applying for preferential policies required high costs.
Zhao Zhigang said with emotion: "Some policies look beautiful, but it is too difficult for companies to enjoy them."
Trapped in rights protection
Even more difficult is the construction of a business environment under the rule of law.
An environmental protection equipment manufacturing company in Changsha, Hunan reported that its products were imitated by a manufacturer in Inner Mongolia and needed to provide evidence before it could initiate a lawsuit. However, due to factors such as distance, it was "unable to see the production process and difficult to find evidence."
In a glass cutting equipment manufacturing plant in Bengbu, Anhui, its manufacturing process was imitated by a company in Jinan, Shandong. However, in the local court, it faced problems such as difficulty in identifying infringements and high cost of punishment, and it was difficult to effectively protect rights.
A private enterprise that produces new adhesive materials in Changsha Economic Development Zone. The adhesives developed by the company can easily be imitated by other small companies. The compensation obtained through litigation is not as high as the cost paid. The cost of rights protection is high and the results of the implementation are poor. , Really stumped these infringed companies...
During the survey, the difficulty and high cost of protecting the intellectual property rights of private SMEs became a prominent problem.
The "Report" shows that due to limited manpower and material resources, it is difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to appoint dedicated personnel to deal with patent infringement issues.
Under the current laws and regulations, the amount of compensation for intellectual property infringement is too low, it is difficult to obtain evidence for patent infringement, and it is difficult to appeal in a remote place. This has not only discouraged the enthusiasm of enterprises to defend their rights, but also has difficulty effectively curbing infringement.
Some companies said that "knowing that the other party is infringing, they have nothing to do."
Enterprises complain about the difficulty of enforcement of the current rule of law and feel helpless. On the one hand, it is reflected in the protection and enforcement of rights in different places, and there is local judicial protection; on the other hand, the current level of mastery and enforcement of the property of dishonest persons is not strong, and local implementation of standards and Different requirements have increased the burden on enterprises to defend their rights.
At the same time, the research team found that in the process of advancing the construction of the legal system, there are problems of "high-standard legislation, universal violations, and selective enforcement" in many areas of the market.
"The legislative standards are relatively high, but in actual implementation, many market entities have difficulty meeting relevant standards, and there are even some'legal' methods to circumvent corresponding legal obligations." Zhao Zhigang mentioned that this approach may be fine most of the time, but When it comes to centralized rectification of a particular area, some private market players will be the first to bear the brunt.
Therefore, most private enterprises always feel that they "have the handle in the hands of others", which has seriously affected the development expectations of stable operation and expansion of the enterprise.
This situation is particularly manifested in issues such as personal income tax and corporate social security payments.
After the fifth comprehensive fee reduction, my country's total nominal social insurance rate is basically controlled within the range of 34%-37%, and the total provident fund rate range is 5%-12% (mostly 8%). The total of five social insurances and one housing fund The interval is 39%-47%.
However, the actual payment rate of social insurance has deviated from the nominal payment rate for a long time, and false payment is widespread.
In 2020, with the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, companies have expressed that the social insurance fee reduction policy has made them the strongest sense of gain.
But companies are also worried about how to respond once the rate returns to normal levels.
At a normal level, in order to reduce the cost of employee social security, some companies pay according to the minimum standard, and some evade social security expenditure through labor dispatch and flexible employment. This not only affects the legitimate rights and interests of employees, but also increases labor disputes. may.
Liu Shangxi, president of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences, believes that increasing efforts to reduce the burden of corporate taxes and fees can hedge part of the costs that are transformed from public risks, but cannot completely hedge.
The most important thing is to increase "certainty" and reduce the level of public risk, so that companies have a stable business expectations, investment expectations, and research and development expectations.
"Thirst" in financing
The problem of financial institutions "dislike the poor and love the rich" still exists.
The research team found that the problem of difficult loans for private enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises is still prominent.
According to a private manufacturing company in Liaoning, even with relevant collateral as a guarantee, the amount of financing the company received from the bank dropped from 1.2 billion yuan in 2011 to 280 million yuan in 2019. The funding gap required for production and operation is relatively large, and The average loan interest rate is as high as 7.54%.
With the vigorous implementation of inclusive financial policies in recent years, credit loans based on big data technology and the social credit system have effectively alleviated the "financing difficulties" of private SMEs, but this type of credit loans is characterized by small scale (less than 1 million yuan) , Short term (less than 1 year), usually used for liquidity loans for enterprises.
As for the growing private SMEs, the problem of medium and long-term "financing difficulties" is obviously more prominent.
The survey found that bank loans are the most important financing channel for enterprises in terms of financing methods.
Among more than 17,000 companies, 85.4% of corporate financing in 2019 came from bank loans.
From the perspective of loan maturity structure, short-term loans with a maturity of less than one year still dominate, and short-term loans accounted for 61.4% in 2019.
It is not that private SMEs are keen on short-term loans.
At present, for this kind of medium and long-term investment to expand production capacity, if bank loans are to be obtained, it usually requires land, plant and machinery to be mortgaged.
Zhao Zhigang said that in their investigations, they found that some banks implemented different collateral standards for state-owned enterprises and private enterprises. The collateral requirements for private enterprises are stringent. It is difficult to obtain medium- and long-term loans. State-owned enterprises can be appropriately relaxed.
In addition, the mortgage rate set by banks for private small, medium and micro enterprises is generally low, which directly restricts the financing scale of enterprises.
Among the more than 17,000 companies, 29.6% of them felt that the financing environment was tightening and financing costs were rising.
Regarding financing difficulties and expensive financing, 50.2% of the companies believe that "the financing channels are reduced, and financing is difficult, and financing is difficult." 28.3% of the companies believe that "borrowing interest rates rise, interest expenses increase, and financing is expensive."
In this regard, the "Report" suggests that financial policies need to continue to work hard to solve the problem of financing difficulties and financing for small and micro enterprises, and on the basis of the extension of the inclusive small and micro enterprise loan deferred principal and interest payment policy and credit loan support plan, Make full use of modern information technologies such as big data to connect with banks and enterprises, and achieve precise financing support for small and micro enterprises through more precise analysis and judgment of financing needs.
This year is the first anniversary of the implementation of my country's "Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment".
Previously, entrusted by the State Council, the Development Research Center of the State Council conducted a third-party assessment of the implementation of the Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment for one year.
At the State Council’s regular policy briefing held on January 14, Zhang Junkuo, deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that from the overall assessment, the overall satisfaction of enterprises with the business environment is at a high level.
For the lower indicators of satisfaction, he cited bidding, standardization of intermediary services, and financing facilitation.
"These matters involve more departments, and it will take a long time to solve them. Relatively speaking, we need to further increase our efforts."
China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily reporter Zhang Junbin Source: China Youth Daily