Study On Defining The Respective Fiscal Powers And Expenditure Responsibilities Of Subsistence Allowances Between Governments

The subsistence allowances system is an important part of the social assistance system in our country.It undertakes the important responsibility of "the last line of defense" of the social safety net.It is of great significance to fully embody the superiority of our socialist system,ensure social fairness and achieve the goal of fighting poverty during the 13 th Five-Year Plan.In view of this,our country should not neglect the study of clearly defining the respective fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities of subsistence allowances between governments in the process of advancing the reform to define the respective fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities of each level of governments.This paper shifts the perspective of the division of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities into the field of subsistence allowances.Combining the characteristics of the subsistence allowances and its value orientation,it analyzes the responsibilities of the government in this field,and discusses how to distribute the responsibilities for subsistence allowances among governments at all levels.First of all,this paper summarizes the connotation and characteristics of the fiscal powers of subsistence allowances,including rigid demand,recessive income,ethical rights and interests,information complexity.Combining with public goods theory,government function theory and fiscal decentralization theory,this paper summarizes the theoretical operating principles of the Intergovernmental division of powers and responsibilities for subsistence allowances,including the principle of the scope of public goods,the principle of regional balance,the principle of government administrative efficiency and the principle of incentives for government actions.The application of these principles to subsistence allowances is also explained.Secondly,this paper analyzes the development process and current situation of respective fiscal powers and the expenditure responsibilities of subsistence allowances of each level of governments,and points out that there are some problems in the division of fiscal powers of subsistence allowances,such as the lack of institutional constraints on the ownership of decision-making powers,the unclear division of executive and supervisory powers and so on.There are also some problems in the division of the responsibilities of the subsistence allowances expenditure,such as the lack of systematic provisions,unreasonable proportion of the overall burden of governments at all levels,and huge differences in the division of the responsibility of expenditure among regions.This paper also establishes a calculation model and uses the rural subsistence allowance expenditure and population data of the county(district)level government to calculate the balance between the government's fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities for the subsistence allowance.The results show that there is a real imbalance in the division of the fiscal power and expenditure responsibilities for the subsistence allowance in China.This imbalance is mainly manifested in the insufficient expenditure of provincial governments,while the county governments bear excessive responsibility for expenditure,which seriously affects the fairness of the implementation of subsistence allowance.In addition,this paper analyzes the practice of the division of social assistance powers in the United States,Japan and Australia,and the data of the division expenditure responsibilities of central and local government in the United Kingdom,Russia and Brazil.From the practice abroad,this paper summarizes that the division of social assistance powers and expenditure responsibilities should be standardized and legalized,and that the central government should assume the decision-making powers,the local government should assume the executive powers of specific affairs,and the central government should assume the main expenditure responsibilities.Finally,combining with the conclusion of theoretical analysis,the experience of foreign practice,and the problems found in the analysis of current situation,this paper puts forward the principles and policy suggestions for clearly defining the respective fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities of subsistence allowances of each level of governments in China.