Reforming China's Public finances : papers presented at a symposium held in Shanghai, China, October 25-28, 1993

The reform of fiscal relations between different levels of geovernment is crucial to the success of China's current structural transformation to a socialist market economy. The reform will profoundly affect macroeconomic stability, growth prospects, and the effectiveness of providing public services and interregional equity. In order to review international experience and to clearly identify the policy options for China in the short to medium term, a conference was held in Shanghai in October 1993. The papers in this volume, edited by Ehtisham Ahmad, Gao Qiang, and Vito Tanzi, include those presented at the conference and a few that supplement it. Cover Contents Foreword Acknowledgment 1 Overview Intragovernmental Fiscal Issues in China 2 Problems in Chinese Intragovernmental Fiscal Relations, Tax-Sharing System, and Future Reform 3 China's Financial Policies for Minority Nationalities and Poor Areas The Budget, Macroenomic Control, and Legal Framework 4 Budget Policy in China 5 Budget Laws, Control, Review, and Management in China Expenditure Assignments 6 A Comparative Perspective on Expenditure Assignments 7 Infrastructure Provision in a Socialist Market Economy 8 Social Expenditure Assignments in China: Issues and Responses Revenue Assignments—Tax Policy and Administration 9 Reform and the Market Economy and Tax in China 10 Unifying the Enterprise Income Tax and Reforming Profit Distribution Between Government and State-Owned Enterprises 11 Basic Issues of Decentralization and Tax Assignment 12 Local Taxation in an International Perspective 13 Issues in Natural Resource Taxation Grants and Transfers 14 Theory and Practice of Intergovenmental Transfers 15 Implementing and Managing Grants—Institutional and Data Requirements 16 Horizontal Equalization Grants In recent years, China has taken steps to promote sustainable growth, with greater reliance on market mechanisms and institutions that facilitate orderly macroeconomic controls. The International Monetary Fund has been assisting the authorities in this endeavor. IMF participation has been particularly active in various fiscal areas such as tax policy, tax administration, budget management processes and the budget law, and fiscal relations between different levels of government