金融產業報導

策劃、編譯■李威撰、謝雯?



潘耀民的「饅頭稅」在中國引起熱烈討論，甚至成為2011年北大自主招生的考題。

儘管山東省國稅局出面解釋，饅頭徵收的是增值稅，而並非單獨開徵的稅種，

但從引發迴響的規模來看，多少已反映民生物資價格上漲對中國民眾所造成的壓力。

而中國政府也已意識到這一問題，因此從今年初展開的新一輪五年計畫中，

將施政重點放在減輕民眾的稅務負擔，並藉此以增進國內市場的消費能力。

■中國北京一家攤販正在打包饅頭，圖攝於2004年12月10日。（圖／路透）

你可以叫他們「饅頭黨」。中國境內開始有一小群人發出聲音，抱怨當前的稅務體制，讓中國政府必須採取過去並不習慣的防禦姿態，為財政政策辯解，有時甚至還因此推動政策的改變。

You might call it the Steamed Bun （1） Party. A small but increasingly vocal number of Chinese are beginning to complain about taxes, placing their government in the unfamiliar position of having to defend -- and sometimes change -- its fiscal policies.

這算不上是任何一種群眾暴起義行為，也絕對不像美國反動的茶黨一樣，是個有組織的運動。然而，在中國這個政治受控管的世界裡，針對稅制所表達的不滿聲浪卻意義深遠。稅制對經濟亦造成深遠的影響後果，因為要解除中國長久以來受到壓制的國內需求，稅收便是關鍵之一。

It is hardly any kind of popular uprising and is certainly not an organized movement like the anti-establishment Tea Party in the United States. Still, expressions of discontent about taxes are significant in the controlled world of Chinese politics. The economic consequences are also big, with taxation one of the keys to unlocking China’s long-suppressed domestic demand.

在全國人民大會舉行期間，成為公眾關注話題的稅制問題也開始浮上檯面。全國人民大會是中國每年一度的議會，其特色是照稿演出的會議，而非真正的辯論。

The emergence of taxes as a public concern has been on display this week at the National People’s Congress, the country’s annual session of parliament which features scripted meetings and next to no real debate.

這一連串熱烈的減稅討論則始於饅頭這種北方常見的食物。日前，山東省政協委員潘耀民向省政協提出建議，減低所謂的「饅頭稅」。「饅頭是許多人的日常必須品，不應該對這類商品課以重稅。」他向《路透》表示。

It all started with the humble steamed bun, a white, tasteless bread roll eaten as a filler in northern China. Pan Yaomin, a representative in a municipal-level People’s Political Consultative Conference, submitted to that body -- which advises parliament -- a proposal for cutting what he called the "steamed bun tax." "The steamed bun is a daily necessity for many people, and it’s just not right to pay high taxes on it," he told Reuters.

事實上，中國政府並未特別針對饅頭這項商品徵稅。潘耀民的論點在於饅頭這類商品應該被視為糧食產品，增值稅最多應課13％，而不該被視為加工製品，課以17％的增值稅。他的提議引起許多共鳴，中國各媒體也引起激烈討論，最後地方官員不得不出面辯解，指稱他們並無改變的權力。

In truth, there is no levy targeted just at steam buns. Pan’s contention was that the buns should be treated as a grain product, which is assessed a 13 percent value added tax （2）, rather than as a processed food, charged a 17 percent VAT. He touched a chord with his proposal, fuelling widespread discussion in Chinese media and prompting local tax authorities to defend their position and explain they did not have the power to make changes.

大眾施壓

PUBLIC PRESSURE

潘耀民在省政協會議上的行為，是中國大眾對於稅務不滿的最新一波展現，已引起中國政府注意，甚至造成了部分政策轉彎。

Pan’s action was the latest sign that rising public grumbling about taxes is causing the Chinese government to pay attention -- and sometimes making it change policies.

在全國人民大會開幕前一週，中國國務院表示為了回應車主的抗議，汽車稅將比預估的少31％。中國政府也因擔心房屋所有者的反彈，大幅縮小在財產稅徵收上的行動。

A week before the parliament opened, the State Council, or cabinet, said an annual vehicle tax would be 31 percent less than planned, following strong opposition from car owners. The government has also taken only tiny steps toward introducing a property tax, wary of a backlash from homeowners.

「這是中國稅務體制上個別且微小的進步，不過這些進步並不會改變中國走向增加個人及企業賦稅的趨勢。」天津財經大學教授李煒光表示。李煒光是呼籲改革中國財政體制的重要倡議者之一。「政府可以隨心所欲使用預算和稅金，不需經過任何檢查制度，這樣很恐怖。」他說。在中國，大眾要求政策改變的聲音相對稀少。一般說來，大眾對政策的批評一般都著重在因稅務徵收所引起的經濟扭曲現象。

"These are specific and minor examples of progress, but they won’t change the overall trend of an increasing tax burden on individuals and firms," said Li Weiguang, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics. Li has been one of the key advocates of reforming China’s fiscal system."The government can do whatever it wants with its budget and taxation, without any checks. That’s really terrible," he said. Such calls for policy change are rare in China. Criticism instead usually centers on the economic distortions supposedly caused by taxation.

擔任全國人大代表的娃哈哈集團董事長宗慶后也在全國人大會議上提出了改革稅制的建議。「在所得分配上，政府拿走太大一部分；而公司以及個人所拿的就太少了。在這樣的狀況下，我們要如何促進內需？」他問道。「減低平民所應繳的稅是最直接也最有效的方式。」他說。

Zong Qinghou, the billionaire （3） boss of Chinese drinks company Wahaha and a parliamentary delegate, followed that tack in his policy proposal to the National People’s Congress. "In the distribution of income, the state has taken too much, while companies and residents have taken too little. As such, how can we effectively boost domestic demand?" he asked. "Cutting taxes for ordinary people is the most direct and effective way," he said.

經濟成長

ECONOMIC GAINS

有強力證據顯示，中國政府在總收入上雖非來自正式稅收，但仍比重過重。雖然過去10年來，中國的經濟成長率每年平均有10.5％；而在這段時間內，中國政府的稅收平均增加了20.1％。

There is powerful evidence to suggest that the government’s share of total income, though not formal taxation, is too high in China. While the economy has grown by an annual average of 10.5 percent over the past decade, government revenues have increased by an average 20.1 percent a year during that time.

這直接地反應在中國經濟失衡的現象上。2000年有46.4％的國內生產毛額流向內需消費，但到了2009年卻降到了35.6％。2009年的數字以和平時期經濟來看，顯得異常的低，同時也反映國家總收入流向勞工的比例大幅減少。而反映政府消費力的投資金額則在同一時期由35.5％攀升到47.7％。「體制必須要改變，不然中國的經濟轉型就不可能會實現。」中國社科院研究員張曉晶表示。

That has directly contributed to imbalances in the Chinese economy. Mirroring a fall in the share of national income going to workers, consumption has gone from 46.4 percent of GDP in 2000 to 35.6 percent in 2009, abnormally low for a peacetime economy. Investment -- a reflection of the government’s spending power -- rose to 47.7 percent of GDP from 35.3 percent in the same period. "The system has to be reformed, otherwise China’s economic transformation won’t be realized," said Zhang Xiaojing, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

戰鼓已敲響

BATTLES AHEAD

《富比士》雜誌在2009年賦稅痛苦指數中，將中國排第2位，僅次於法國。北京當局則質疑《富比士》所用的研究方法，為中國的排名進行辯護。國家稅務總局總長肖捷去年10月在一篇文章中提到，中國政府的真實稅收只佔國民生產毛額的30％，遠低於已發展經濟體的平均數字43％。

Forbes magazine ranked China second in its 2009 "tax misery index," behind only France. Beijing questioned the methodology and defended its position. Xiao Jie, chief of the national tax administration, wrote in an article in October that the government’s real tax and fee revenues accounted for 30 percent of gross domestic product （4）, well below an average of 43 percent in developed economies.

其中一部分問題來自於稅制仍舊不完備，如同在北京經營一間小型翻譯公司的方姓企業家所證實的。「如果我不節稅的話，我的生意就會一敗塗地。」她說。「節稅」這個委婉說法是用來指稱規避繳稅的行為。

Part of the problem is that tax collection is still patchy, as one entrepreneur surnamed Fang, who owns a small translation firm in Beijing, can attest. "My business would go bust if I didn’t do tax planning," she said, using a common euphemism （5） for evading taxes.

不過，隨著北京當局開始打擊逃稅漏洞，並增收諸如財產稅等新項目稅款，要在中國逃稅將會比想像中更加困難。中國主要入口網站之一的網易，在今年稍早刊登一篇未署名的評論，文中指出，目前該是中國人民代表大會加緊監管稅賦制度的時刻。「民眾信任國家的人民代表，相信代表們能夠提供他們自己無權達成的物品及服務。這也就是說，納稅人為了自身利益而納稅。」該網站表示。

But as Beijing moves to close loopholes and introduce new taxes, such as on property, it will find that the path could be more fraught than imagined. Netease, one of the country’s main web portals, published an unsigned commentary earlier this year which argued that it was time for the parliament to exercise more oversight of taxation. "Citizens place their trust in the nations’ representatives to provide the goods and services that they need but don’t have the power to provide themselves. That is to say, taxpayers pay taxes for their own benefit," it said.

（路透Reuters）

關鍵字詞

key words

1. steamed bun

(n.) 饅頭

2. value added tax

(n.) 即VAT，增值稅

3. billionaire

(n.) 億萬富翁

4. gross domestic product

(n.) 即GDP，國內生產毛額

5. euphemism

(n.) 委婉說法

文章來源: 台灣立報