Should farmers pay the forest cultivation fund?

Agricultural Law of the people's Republic of China the decision of the standing Committee of the National people's Congress on amending the Agricultural Law of the people's Republic of China was adopted at the 30th meeting of the standing Committee of the Eleventh National people's Congress of the people's Republic of China on December 28, 2012. it is hereby promulgated and shall enter into force as of January 1, 2013.

Article 67 any organ or unit shall collect administrative or operational fees from farmers or agricultural production and operation organizations in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations. The items, scope and standards of charges shall be made public. Farmers and agricultural production and operation organizations have the right to refuse fees that are not based on laws and regulations.

Now, the forestry authorities levy forestry funds from farmers on the basis of the measures for the Collection and use of Forestry funds issued by the Ministry of Finance and the State Forestry Administration (Caizong [2009] No. 32) and Shandong Provincial Finance Department and Shandong Forestry Bureau. (Lu Caizong (2009) 123).

Neither of these two "administrative measures" can achieve the effectiveness of laws and administrative regulations, and farmers and agricultural production and operation organizations have the right to refuse.

The two "administrative measures" claim to be "in accordance with the Forest Law, the decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on accelerating Forestry Development (Zhongfa [2003] No. 9) and the opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on comprehensively promoting the Reform of the Collective Forest right system" (Zhongfa [2008] No. 10), formulate these measures ".

However, the formulation of the two "administrative measures" is not authorized by law and is not in line with the spirit of the two documents of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council.

1. Item (4) of Article 8 of the Forest Law provides that "forest cultivation fees shall be levied and used specifically for afforestation and forest cultivation". However, the financial and forestry authorities are not authorized to develop "management measures". It belongs to the law and cannot be done without authorization.

2. The decision of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on accelerating Forestry Development does not authorize the financial and forestry departments to formulate administrative measures.

Only Article 20 of the decision deals with the Forestry Fund, which reads: "abolish unreasonable fees for forest farmers and other forestry producers and operators." Reform the methods for the collection, management and use of forest cultivation funds, and gradually return all the collected forest cultivation funds to forestry producers and operators, and the resulting funding gap of grass-roots forestry management units will be solved by finance. "

Neither of the two "management measures" contains the content that "all the forest cultivation funds collected should be returned to forestry producers and operators step by step".

The finance and forestry departments have formulated two "management measures" to serve the interests of their own departments and infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of farmers. For the competent department, instead of "returning it all to forestry producers and operators", it would be better not to collect it at all.

3. The opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on comprehensively promoting the Reform of Collective Forest tenure system also did not authorize the financial and forestry departments to formulate "management measures".

Only Article 16 of the "opinion" deals with the forest cultivation fund, and the relevant contents are as follows: "Reform the management measures of the forest cultivation fund, gradually reduce the collection proportion of the forest cultivation fund, and standardize the use. Governments at all levels should include the administrative funds of forestry departments in the financial budget.

Two "management measures", one from July 1, 2009, and the other from January 1, 2010. One implementation period is more than five years, and the other is nearly five years. So far, no new regulations have been issued to reduce the proportion of forest cultivation funds. In accordance with the spirit of Article 19, paragraph 2 of the measures for the Administration of Land expropriation in Shandong Province (Shandong people's Government decree No. 226), "the comprehensive land price standard for land expropriation areas shall be adjusted once every three years", the proportion of forestry funds should have been adjusted a long time ago. Why not adjust it? It's for the self-interest of the department.

Standing at the height of governing the country according to law, I suggest that the relevant state organs confirm that the two "administrative measures" are invalid.