Study On The Optimization Of Tobacco Consumption Tax System In China

Tobacco is a very special product.While its production brings huge economic benefits to all countries in the world,its consumption also causes the health and socio-economic losses of smokers and non-smokers.In recent years,With the further understanding of tobacco harm,countries all over the world have taken various measures to control tobacco consumption.International practice has proved that tax-price means is the most effective and cost-effective way to reduce tobacco use.Among them,the consumption tax on tobacco is a universal measure adopted by all countries.However,in the early days,the target of tobacco consumption tax in various countries was to raise fiscal revenue,and the relevant tax rate,collection method,collection link and other system design are not reasonable enough.Since entering the new century,countries have gradually optimized and reformed the tobacco consumption tax system,which makes the core idea of "controlling tobacco by tax" more reflected in the practical effect of tobacco consumption tax.China is the world's largest tobacco production and consumption country.Since the signing of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control initiated by the World Health Organization in 2003,the cigarette consumption tax reform has been carried out twice in 2009 and 2015.The system design of tax rate,tax collection method and collection link has been gradually improved,and the design concept of " ban on the levy" has also been presented.However,from the practical point of view,the tobacco control effect of the two cigarette consumption tax reforms is not satisfactory.The reform of cigarette consumption tax in 2009 did not reduce tobacco consumption,while the reform of cigarette consumption tax in 2015 reduced tobacco consumption to some extent,but its effect was limited.At present,China's cigarette consumption is still rising,and the number of smokers is still high.Therefore,in order to achieve the goal of “to reduce the smoking rate of people over 15 years old to 20% by 2030” mentioned in the "health 2030" plan outline,China's tobacco consumption tax system needs to enter a new round of optimization reform.This paper takes the cigarette consumption tax as the main research object,using the combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis,inductive analysis and comparative analysis of research methods,along the path of asking questions-analysing problems-solving problems,on the taxation scope of tobacco consumption tax,tax rate,tax collection method and collection link,etc.Expand and study the optimization reform of China's tobacco consumption tax system to strengthen the effect of tobacco control.First of all,this paper defines the concept of tobacco and tobacco consumption tax,and uses the economic theory of negative externality theory,demand elasticity theory and tax burden transfer theory to explain the necessity and feasibility of levying tobacco consumption tax.On this basis,the paper analyzes the mechanism of tobacco consumption tax system optimization from two aspects: the realization of tax objectives and the optimization of tax system elements.It mainly discusses how to achieve the goal of tobacco consumption tax control and the influence of different design of specific tax system elements on the goal of tobacco control.Then through the analysis of the historical evolution and the current situation of the tobacco consumption tax in China,it points out that in order to achieve the goal of controlling tobacco consumption,there are still some problems in the current tobacco consumption tax system,such as the scope of collection to be expanded,the low tax rate,the way of collection and the unreasonable collection link.Finally,the paper discusses the general situation of the global development of tobacco consumption tax system levy and the specific practice of some countries.Based on the international experience,it puts forward a tax system optimization plan that focuses on reducing the tobacco consumption of low-income groups and youth groups.The specific policy suggestions are as follows: simplify the tax rate,and gradually increase the tax rate of tobacco consumption tax in three stages with a ten-year interval;timely consider the inclusion of e-cigarettes within the scope of tobacco consumption tax;implement the compound tax method with specific tax as the main and ad valorem tax as the auxiliary;move the tax link to the wholesale link before the final sales link.In addition,it also proposed some supporting measures,such as maintain the linkage of price and tax,strengthen tax collection and management,and implement special funds.