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Guangdong Provincial People’s Government on Reforming and Perfecting the Provincial Policy
Opinions on the implementation of financial transfer payment system
People’s governments at the local level and listed, people’s governments of counties (cities, districts), departments and institutions directly under the provincial government:
In order to deepen the reform of the fiscal and taxation system and accelerate the establishment of a modern financial system, according to the requirements of "Opinions of the State Council on Reforming and Perfecting the Central-local Transfer Payment System" (Guo Fa [2014] No.71), we now put forward the following implementation opinions on reforming and perfecting the provincial-level financial transfer payment system.
I. General requirements
(1) Work objectives. In accordance with the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, the provincial party committee and the provincial government, with the main goal of promoting regional coordinated development and equalization of basic public services, we will deepen the reform of fiscal and taxation system below the provincial level, increase transfer payments, optimize the transfer payment structure, standardize the allocation and use of funds, strengthen supervision and management and performance evaluation, establish and improve a scientific, standardized and unified provincial financial transfer payment system, improve the balance of financial distribution between regions and levels, and promote the sustained and healthy development of the province’s economy and society.
(2) Basic principles.
1. Adhere to the problem orientation and clarify the subject of responsibility. In view of the main problems existing in the current financial transfer payment system, carefully study and formulate measures to solve them, and ensure that the transfer payment system is connected with the reasonable division of powers and expenditure responsibilities. Strengthen the function of promoting the equalization of basic public services as a whole at the provincial level, and clarify the main responsibility of cities and counties to make good use of superior transfer payments to promote economic and social development.
2. Adhere to the sinking of financial resources and ensure the development of grassroots units. Adhere to the principle of "suppressing the level and protecting the grassroots" and further increase the transfer payment from the province to cities and counties. Efforts will be made to clean up and integrate special transfer payments, improve the stable growth mechanism of general transfer payments, and promote the development of county economy.
3 adhere to the combination of awards and compensation, and play a guiding role. On the premise of ensuring basic fairness and ensuring the needs of basic public services, we will strengthen the incentive and guidance effect of transfer payments and mobilize the enthusiasm of governments at all levels below the provincial level to promote coordinated economic and social development.
4. Adhere to standardized management and improve capital efficiency. Strictly allocate, manage and use transfer payment funds, and strengthen the guidance and supervision of provinces to cities and counties. Accelerate the disbursement of transfer payment funds and effectively improve the efficiency of fund use.
Second, optimize and adjust the transfer payment structure
(1) Adjust the transfer payment structure in combination with the division of powers. On the basis of reasonably dividing the powers and expenditure responsibilities of governments at all levels, we will optimize and adjust the transfer payment structure. In addition to the powers assumed by the central government in accordance with the regulations, if it belongs to the provincial powers, the province shall bear the full expenditure responsibility, and in principle, it shall be organized and implemented by the province through the expenditure arrangement at the provincial level; Belong to the province and the city and county share the power, by the province and the city and county share the responsibility of expenditure, the province share part can be entrusted to the city and county through special transfer payment; Belonging to the city and county, the city and county shall bear the responsibility for expenditure. In underdeveloped areas, cities and counties bear the financial gap in expenditure responsibility, and the province mainly gives appropriate support through general transfer payments, and a small number of guiding, relief and emergency affairs can be supported through special transfer payments.
(2) Increase the proportion of general transfer payments. Further reduce special transfer payments, expand general transfer payments, and enhance the overall planning ability of cities and counties. Strive to increase the proportion of general transfer payment of provincial finance to 60% or above before the end of 2015, and keep it at a high level in future years. Gradually form a transfer payment structure with a balanced distribution of financial resources between regions and general transfer payments arranged and used by the municipal and county governments as the main body, and a reasonable and appropriate proportion of general transfer payments and special transfer payments.
(3) Expand the scale of transfer payments. Further increase the transfer payment from the province to cities and counties, give preferential support to underdeveloped areas and grassroots governments, and promote the horizontal and vertical financial structure balance in the province. Through the transfer payment to less developed areas, we will improve the balance of expenditure between regions, gradually increase the proportion of expenditure in the eastern and western regions of Guangdong Province to the total expenditure at the prefecture (county) level, and further promote the revitalization and development of the eastern and western regions of Guangdong Province. Through the sinking of transfer payments, we will improve the balance of expenditures between levels, gradually increase the proportion of county-level expenditures in the total expenditures at all levels in the province, and continuously enhance the ability of county-level basic financial support.
Third, improve the general transfer payment system
(1) Improve the general transfer payment system. In accordance with the principle of combining "basic protection" with "strong incentives", a general transfer payment system with indemnificatory transfer payment, incentive transfer payment, transfer payment in ecological areas and transfer payment in special difficult areas will be established and improved. The total amount of affordable transfer payments, transfer payments in ecological areas and transfer payments in areas with special difficulties should be kept above 60% of general transfer payments.
(2) Give play to the role of guaranteeing transfer payment. The balanced transfer payment base, fixed amount subsidy, settlement subsidy and general transfer payment with special purpose will be included in the scope of guaranteed transfer payment. Guaranteed transfer payment is oriented to "guarantee the basics", ensuring the vested interests of cities and counties, and ensuring the financial needs of cities and counties in underdeveloped areas to provide basic public services and maintain the normal operation of political power.
(3) Strengthen the guiding effect of incentive transfer payment. We will implement incentive transfer payment mechanisms such as coordinated development awards and fiscal revenue increase awards, and constantly improve system design and factor indicators in light of the development of the economic and social situation. Incentive transfer payment is guided by "strong incentives", focusing on the key work arrangements of the provincial party Committee and the provincial government, stimulating and mobilizing the enthusiasm of cities and counties, and guiding cities and counties to complete the objectives and tasks of "stabilizing growth, adjusting structure, promoting reform, benefiting people’s livelihood and preventing risks".
(4) Improve the transfer payment in ecological areas. We will implement a transfer payment mechanism that combines awards and compensation for key ecological functional areas and other ecological areas, establish and improve the index system for ecological environmental protection, implement horizontal and vertical assessment, properly link the allocation of funds with the assessment results, and guide and urge ecological areas to implement the main responsibility of promoting the construction of local ecological civilization.
(5) Increase the tilt of transfer payment in areas with special difficulties. Give full consideration to the actual situation of ethnic minority counties, former central Jiangsu counties, key poverty alleviation and development counties and other areas with weak economic foundation and poor natural and geographical conditions, and increase the province’s transfer payments to old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, areas with financial difficulties and resource-exhausted cities. Transfer payments and guaranteed transfer payments in areas with special difficulties will give preferential support to areas where the old and the young are poor, so as to ensure that the average per capita access to general transfer payments in these areas is higher than the provincial average.
Four, clean up and standardize the special transfer payment
(1) Clean up and integrate the existing special transfer payment items. Special transfer payments that do not meet the requirements of economic and social development, have no reasonable basis for examination and approval, are found to be inefficient in the use of funds through performance evaluation, or are found to be obviously illegal in financial supervision and audit inspection, and are resolutely revoked. In combination with the reform of the tax and fee system, the provisions on urban maintenance and construction tax, sewage charges, the price of exploration and mining rights, mineral resources compensation fees and other special funds will be gradually abolished, and funds in related fields will be arranged as a whole. For the special transfer payment whose establishment period has expired and the original policy objectives and tasks have been completed, the provisions on recovery at maturity shall be strictly implemented. We will integrate the special transfer payments that are scattered, have similar goals, use similar directions, support similar objects, and have similar fund management methods. Strictly control the number of special fund projects managed by provincial departments, and reduce the special funds of provincial general public budget to less than 60 by 2016 according to the principle of "one department and one special project, no special project and no new special project". Establish and improve the regular evaluation and withdrawal mechanism for special transfer payment projects that really need to be retained.
(2) Strictly control the newly established special transfer payment projects. In addition to the transfer payment projects explicitly required by the state, in principle, no new special transfer payment projects will be established at the provincial level. If it is really necessary to establish a new provincial special transfer payment project, it is necessary to conduct a feasibility study and put forward a clear performance target in accordance with the regulations, and report it to the provincial finance department for examination and approval, and then report it to the provincial government for examination and approval. The newly-established special projects should have clear policy basis, policy objectives, fund demand, fund use, implementation plan, annual fund arrangement, establishment period, performance objectives, competent departments and division of responsibilities, and establish a regular evaluation and withdrawal mechanism accordingly. The budget of special transfer payment funds shall be "fixed for one year", and the arrangement shall not be solidified. If it still needs to be arranged after the expiration, it shall be submitted for approval according to the procedures after performance evaluation and special audit.
(3) Gradually withdraw from the competitive field. Any special transfer payment that is "small, scattered and chaotic", has no obvious effect and can be effectively adjusted by the market competition mechanism, will be resolutely cancelled. For the special transfer payments in competitive fields that have been introduced due to price reform and macro-control, the implementation period should be clearly defined and cancelled upon expiration. For the reserved competitive fields with certain externalities, we should control the scale of funds, highlight the key points of protection, gradually change the administrative distribution mode, mainly adopt market-oriented operation modes such as fund management, and gradually combine with financial capital to play a leverage role in inciting social capital. For a few people who are not suitable to implement the fund management model, we should take subsidy methods such as discount, construction first and subsidy afterwards, insurance premium subsidy, guarantee subsidy, etc. on the premise of clarifying the subsidy mechanism in advance, so as to prevent problems such as vague subsidy mechanism, difficulty in implementation or taking subsidy funds.
(4) Standardize the measures for the management of special funds. There should be only one fund management method for each special transfer payment. If there are multiple fund management methods for a special project, it should be integrated and merged, and no special project should be added in disguise. The fund management measures should define the policy objectives, division of responsibilities among departments, objects of fund subsidies, scope of fund use, methods of fund allocation, procedures of fund allocation, requirements of supervision and inspection and performance management, information disclosure, etc., and gradually meet the requirements of unified distribution subjects, consistent distribution methods and unique application and approval procedures. If it is necessary to issue a project declaration guide or a declaration notice, it should be made clear in the fund management measures. Subsidies should be set according to policy objectives and classified according to government agencies, institutions, individuals and enterprises, so as to facilitate supervision and inspection and performance evaluation.
(five) gradually cancel the city and county funding requirements. On the basis of a reasonable division of the powers and expenditure responsibilities of governments at all levels, except that the provinces and cities and counties share the powers according to regulations, the provinces no longer require the cities and counties to bear matching funds when arranging special transfer payments. The expenditure responsibility shared by provinces, cities and counties should be based on public welfare, externalities and other factors to clarify the standard or proportion of sharing expenditure responsibility by governments at all levels below the provincial level. According to the local financial situation, the same special project can be divided into different regions, and the sharing ratio of different special projects to the same region should be gradually unified and standardized.
Five, standardize the allocation of transfer payment funds
(1) Explore the establishment of a linkage mechanism between transfer payment and urbanization of agricultural transfer population. Establish and improve the dynamic management and information sharing mechanism of agricultural transfer population, and strengthen the statistics of agricultural transfer population and the policy of citizenization. For general transfer payments and special transfer payments that are distributed according to the factor method and the benefit scope involves local residents, factors such as the permanent population of cities and counties should be considered when allocating funds, and they should be appropriately linked to the citizenization of local agricultural transfer population, which objectively reflects the basic public service expenditure needs of cities and counties. When allocating funds by using other relevant indicators related to the per capita level, the population should be calculated by considering the data of permanent population, registered population and financially supported population.
(2) Improve the allocation of general transfer payment funds. In principle, the general transfer payment adopts factor method and formulaic distribution, scientifically sets the factors and weights of distribution, fully considers the nature of transfer payment and the actual situation of each region, and promotes the balanced distribution of financial resources between regions and the equalization of basic public services. Affordable transfer payments and transfer payments in areas with special difficulties mainly adopt indicators such as the per capita disposable financial resources level of cities and counties, the per capita general public budget expenditure level, and the demand for basic financial resources, as well as objective factors such as population and jurisdiction area. Incentive transfer payment can be targeted to set up an assessment index system, which is appropriately linked to the promotion of coordinated development of local economy, society and ecology and the strengthening of financial management in cities and counties, and the allocation of transfer payment funds can be calculated in combination with the results of supervision and inspection and performance evaluation in the previous year.
(3) Standardizing the allocation of special transfer payment funds. Strict special transfer payment funds allocation requirements, clear departmental responsibilities, social organizations, industry associations, enterprises and institutions and other non-administrative organs shall not be responsible for the allocation of funds. Special transfer payments are generally allocated by project method or factor method. For major projects, investment projects across cities, counties and river basins, and key projects with strong selectivity, competitiveness and externalities, the project method is mainly adopted for allocation, project library management is implemented, the subject, scope and conditions of project declaration are defined, the project declaration process is standardized, professional organizations and experts are brought into play, and the supervision and balance mechanism is improved. For the projects with the advantages of regional management information, we mainly adopt the factor method to allocate, select objective factors, determine reasonable weights, calculate according to the scientific and standardized allocation formula, cut them into pieces and distribute them to cities and counties, and decompose them into subsidy objects according to regulations. For special projects related to the vital interests of the masses, the administrative distribution mode can be changed, and the distribution mechanism of government guidance, social organization evaluation and mass participation can be gradually promoted.
Six, strengthen the transfer payment budget management
(1) Strengthen budget preparation. General transfer payments are budgeted according to the basic standards and calculation methods stipulated by the central and provincial governments; Special transfer payments shall be budgeted by project and region. The financial transfer payment issued by the provincial government must be included in the budget management of the city and county governments, accurately included in the relevant revenue and expenditure accounts, and reported by the city and county governments to the people’s congresses at the same level or their standing committees according to regulations.
(two) timely release of the budget. To strengthen the connection with the budget management of cities and counties, the provincial finance department should issue the estimated number of transfer payments to cities and counties in advance, in which the proportion of transfer payments distributed by factor method and with relatively fixed amount reached more than 90% in advance, and cities and counties should incorporate all the estimated numbers into the budget at the corresponding level. Except for special projects such as factual settlement, the budget can be issued by stages or paid in advance before settlement. The provincial general transfer payment will reach the municipal level and the county directly under the finance within 30 days after the provincial people’s congress approves the budget, and the special transfer payment will reach the municipal level and the county directly under the finance within 60 days. After receiving the provincial financial transfer payment, the municipal government should officially reach the counties under its jurisdiction within 30 days.
(3) Promoting information disclosure. The budget arrangement and implementation of the provincial financial transfer payment should be explained in the annual budget report submitted to the provincial people’s congress for deliberation, and made public within 20 days after the provincial people’s congress approved the budget, and explained the important matters; The municipal and county governments shall explain the management and use of transfer payment funds from higher levels in the annual budget and final accounts report submitted to the people’s congress at the same level for deliberation, and make it public in a timely manner. In addition to confidentiality requirements, financial departments at all levels should take the initiative to disclose the establishment basis, management methods, fund scale, distribution results, purpose items, users, performance evaluation, supervision and inspection, audit results and other information of financial transfer payment to the public.
(four) to strengthen the overall planning of government fund budget and general public budget. The general public budget can no longer arrange or reduce the arrangements for projects that are budgeted by government funds. The special transfer payment arranged by the government fund budget and the general public budget at the same time should be regarded as a special project in specific management, and a unified fund management method should be formulated and a unified fund distribution method should be implemented.
Seven, strengthen the supervision and inspection of transfer payment funds and performance evaluation.
(a) establish and improve the supervision and inspection system. We will strengthen supervision and inspection of the implementation of the transfer payment budget, the use of funds and financial management, and combine the self-examination of cities, counties and departments, financial inspections and spot checks, and audit supervision to effectively prevent key expenditures such as people’s livelihood from being used for other purposes. The provincial finance department shall, in accordance with the provisions, organize inspection and supervision or focus on spot checks, and the proportion of annual supervision and inspection shall reach more than 10% of the total transfer payment funds in that year. The provincial audit department shall, in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws, regulations and systems, strengthen the audit supervision of the provincial financial transfer payment funds.
(2) Establish and improve the performance evaluation system. Strengthen the management of performance objectives, performance self-evaluation, key evaluation and application of results of transfer payment funds, establish and improve a diversified evaluation mechanism combining self-evaluation of cities, counties, departments and users, financial key evaluation and independent evaluation of third parties, and improve the general performance evaluation methods for transfer payment funds. Gradually expand the scope of performance evaluation of transfer payment funds. In principle, all transfer payment funds should be subject to performance self-evaluation, and transfer payment funds exceeding a certain amount should be subject to key evaluation or entrusted to a third-party institution for independent evaluation. Improve the effectiveness and credibility of the performance evaluation results of transfer payment funds, gradually combine the performance evaluation results with budget arrangements and make the performance evaluation results public.
Eight, accelerate the relevant supporting reforms.
(a) to establish a system that is compatible with the responsibility of expenditure. On the basis of reasonably dividing the powers of the central and local governments, we will explore the establishment of a system in which the powers of governments at all levels below the provincial level are compatible with their expenditure responsibilities. Strengthen the responsibility of provincial governments to promote the equalization of basic public services in the province as a whole, clarify the main responsibility of city and county governments to use their own financial resources and superior transfer payments to promote local economic and social development, and promote the matching of financial resources and powers.
(two) to promote the reform of the financial management system, such as the direct management of counties. Standardize and improve the relevant systems of financial reform in counties directly under the jurisdiction of the province, and appropriately expand the pilot scope of financial reform in counties directly under the jurisdiction of the province. On the basis of the gradual accounting of the allocation of financial transfer payment funds from the province to the county level, through the financial reform of the county directly under the jurisdiction of the province, the advantages of flat management will be brought into play, and the transfer payment funds will be allocated to the pilot counties, and the provincial financial department will carry out supervision and inspection and performance evaluation directly to the pilot counties to improve the efficiency of transfer payment funds.
(three) the implementation of the comprehensive performance appraisal of the financial management of cities and counties. According to the requirements of the central government for the comprehensive performance appraisal of local financial management, the provincial financial department implements the comprehensive performance appraisal of financial management for the financial departments of cities and counties, establishes a performance appraisal index system, and promotes the improvement of financial management at all levels. For municipal finance departments, it is required to improve their own management, at the same time, strengthen the macro-control of county-level financial balance within their jurisdiction, and improve the basic financial security level of municipal districts.
(4) Improve the municipal financial transfer payment system. The municipal government at or above the prefecture level should refer to the provincial transfer payment system to cities and counties, and reform and improve the municipal transfer payment system. Combined with the division of government affairs and expenditure responsibilities at all levels below the provincial level, optimize the transfer payment structure of the city. For the general transfer payment issued by the provincial level, the municipal government should take effective measures to ensure that it is used as a whole for related key expenditures; For the special transfer payments issued by the provincial level, the municipal government can, on the basis of not changing the use of funds, combine the relevant special situations arranged at the corresponding level, increase the integration efforts, and integrate the special transfer payments with the same support direction and related fields.
Nine, strengthen organizational leadership and work cooperation
Reforming and perfecting the transfer payment system is an important part of the reform of the fiscal and taxation system, which involves a wide range of issues, has strong policies, and has great interests adjustment. All localities and departments should attach great importance to it, raise awareness, conscientiously follow the work arrangements and requirements of the central and provincial governments, strengthen organizational leadership and work coordination, and solidly promote various work measures to ensure that relevant reforms are put in place. Local governments bear the main responsibility for the management of transfer payment funds. The financial department is responsible for the construction of transfer payment system, budget arrangement, fund allocation and disbursement, and organizes supervision, inspection and performance evaluation. Relevant competent departments put forward relevant opinions and management requirements on the allocation of transfer payment funds, and are specifically responsible for project declaration management, fund supervision and performance evaluation. The unit using funds shall bear the direct responsibility for the management of the use of funds. The audit department shall, in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and relevant provisions, supervise the management of transfer payment funds in the whole process. Discipline inspection and supervision departments investigate and deal with violations in the use of transfer payment management according to discipline and law, and carry out the integrity review of relevant systems according to the violations found.
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people’s government of guangdong province
October 26, 2015
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