When the land transfer fee is no longer "outside the supervision"

The revenue and expenditure of national land transfer fees announced by the Ministry of Finance in 2014 showed that the income of land transfer fees nationwide last year was 4.29 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.1% over the same period last year. The phenomenon of inadequate collection and management of land transfer income still exists. In some places, there are acts of underlevying, suspending, waiving and returning land transfer income. The reporter's investigation found that the land transfer fees that are underlevied, owed, or waived without authorization are often tens of billions of yuan. In many places, there are strange phenomena such as "how much the land transfer fee is reduced and how long it will be delayed," it all depends on the words of the leader, "the real estate has been sold out, and the land transfer fee is still owed." (Xinhua Daily Telegraph, March 31)

Combing through the audit reports in the field of land in recent years and the announcement of the national land inspector, there are "black holes" and arrears in the collection of land transfer fees, which are on the list almost for many times. The recent corruption cases of some local officials also involve power rent-seeking and benefit transfer in land transactions. It can be seen that the governance of land transfer fees in terms of "leakage", "black hole", and "buildings sold out, land transfer fees have not been given" and other problems, really can not afford to delay. Once the land transfer fee becomes some people's "pocket money", the public interest will be seriously eroded, and the money spent on compensation for land expropriation and demolition, social security for land-expropriated farmers, rural infrastructure construction and urban low-rent housing construction will be greatly reduced.

In order to deal with the "black hole" and debt problems existing in the collection of land transfer fees, we must first understand the causes of the problem. One of the important reasons is that land transfer fees have always been the extra-budgetary income of many local governments. Even if the land transfer fee in some places accounts for half of the local finance, it is still not included in the public finance budget. In this way, the land transfer fee has become "outside supervision funds" and can easily be reduced to "small coffers" and "private money" of local governments. How to spend it, where to spend it, and whether it is "leaking or not" are all muddle-headed accounts. "it is not difficult to understand how much and how long the land transfer fee will be reduced and how long it will be delayed." it is not difficult to understand that "the real estate has been sold out and the land transfer fee is still owed."

Another important reason is that in the current land expropriation and transfer, the leading cadres in many places have too much power and lack of restriction. In particular, local "top leaders" intervene in local land transfer matters. after being courted by the interests of developers, they frequently violate regulations and underlevy, suspend levy, waive or return land transfer fees, and it all depends on how much and how long they are reduced. For example, Qiu he, who fell not long ago, there is always a Zhejiang businessman behind his political line, following Qiu he's official career to expand his land development territory. Liao Shaohua, a former member of the standing Committee of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, who was publicly tried a few days ago, is also suspected of meddling in the reduction of land transfer fees. When some local leaders and developers achieve equal benefits, the land transfer fee collection regulations will become a piece of paper.

To control the "black hole" and debt problems of land transfer fees, first, it is necessary to bring land transfer fees into the financial budget at the same level, rather than extensive management and closed operation. Land transfer fee has become an important pillar of local financial revenue, which is the sum of land income collected in advance in the next few years. If the land transfer fee is "leaking" or seriously failing to harvest, it will lay a huge hidden danger for the society. For example, for the compensation of land requisitioned, in many places, the lowest legal standard is generally adopted in practice, and some are even lower than the legal standard. as a result, the rights and interests of farmers are seriously infringed, and contradictions and disputes are high. The random collection of land transfer fees will also induce the impulse of local governments to sell land and erode the red line of cultivated land.

On the other hand, we must administer the power in accordance with the law and curb the power rent-seeking in the land transfer. Huang Xiaohu, an expert on land issues, pointed out that chaos in the collection of land transfer fees in China has occurred frequently, but the division and investigation of responsibility for violations have been absent for a long time. Even if such problems are found, most of them are only interviewed and urged to rectify. Most of the people who are dealt with are corrupt because of their money and rights transactions. The cost of violation is so low, how can the local authorities not act willfully? Dereliction of duty and dereliction of duty in the revenue and expenditure of land transfer fees should be held accountable, or demoted or even dismissed and investigated for legal responsibility. Otherwise, the more arable land is occupied, the greater the income of the localities or departments will be, while the better the protection of cultivated land is, the more losses the localities will suffer.