1. Analysis of consumption tax revenue scale
Consumption tax is one of the four major taxes in China. Consumption tax is the largest tax except value-added tax and income tax, but it is far smaller than value-added tax and income tax in scale, and there is a big gap between consumption tax and vehicle purchase tax and value-added tax in customs collection and tariffs. As can be seen from the table 1. 1, 2009-20 19. As can be seen from Figure 1- 1, the development trend of consumption tax in the proportion of tax revenue and central tax is roughly the same, and the difference between them is relatively stable. The reason may be that China's consumption tax is constantly improving, and the tax rate and scope are also constantly adjusting, making the proportion of consumption tax in tax revenue rising.
2. Analysis of consumption tax revenue structure
At present, China's consumption tax has 15 tax items. Although the tax items of consumption tax have been adjusted, most of them still come from four categories: tobacco, wine, refined oil and automobiles. Table 1-2 sorts out the income of main tax items from 20 14 to 20 18, and their proportion in consumption tax income. According to the data, the tobacco industry accounts for half of China's consumption tax revenue. Generally speaking, China's consumption tax revenue includes cigarettes, refined oil and automobiles, and the proportion of these three parts in the consumption tax reached 8 1.47% in 20 18.
Second, the consumption tax problems
1. The scope of consumption tax in China is not reasonable enough.
Because the scope of consumption tax in China is selective, it is levied on specific consumer goods, which can be roughly divided into the following categories: first, it is levied on high-end consumer goods, such as high-end cosmetics, precious jewelry, jewelry and so on; Secondly, taxes that are conducive to protecting the environment and saving resources, such as firecrackers, fireworks and wooden disposable chopsticks. Finally, taxes that are beneficial to health protection, such as alcohol and cigarettes. At present, the current consumption tax in China is 15 consumer goods. There are several problems in the scope of taxation: first, high-end consumption behavior is not within the scope of taxation. At present, only a small number of high-end consumer goods in China are included in the scope of consumption tax, but in fact, some high-end consumption behaviors should also be included in the scope of taxation; Secondly, there are not enough tax items conducive to environmental protection and resource conservation. In order to protect the environment, China has included disposable wooden chopsticks and solid wood flooring in the taxation scope of consumer goods, but from the perspective of environmental protection and resource conservation, there are still many items that have not been included, such as solid wood furniture and plastic products. Finally, tax items harmful to health also need to be increased (Zhang Ying. On the problems existing in consumption tax and the improvement measures [J].
2. China's consumption tax rate structure is unreasonable _
Whether consumption tax can effectively play a regulatory role depends on whether its tax rate structure is reasonable, but there are many unreasonable aspects in China's current consumption tax rate structure. For example, cosmetics have become people's daily consumer goods, but the tax rate of cosmetics is high; For tobacco and wooden disposable chopsticks, the tax rate is relatively low. China produces and uses a large number of wooden disposable chopsticks every year, but it is difficult to recycle them for secondary use, which will waste a lot of forest resources. Because the price change caused by the low tax rate of consumer goods is small, it has little influence on consumers' consumption tendency, and it is difficult to effectively play the function of consumption tax to save resources. In addition, the high tax rate of high-grade cosmetics in China is unreasonable. With the improvement of people's living standards and aesthetic awareness, cosmetics have gradually become a necessity, so the tax rate of cosmetics should be appropriately reduced.
3. The way of in-price taxation is unreasonable
Value-added tax (VAT) is the largest tax in China, and the way of collecting VAT is out-of-price tax, while the way of collecting consumption tax is in-price tax. In fact, it is unreasonable to use in-price tax in consumption tax, because when calculating the output tax of value-added tax, not only the value-added amount in commodity prices, but also the consumption tax in commodity prices should be calculated, which will lead to the phenomenon of repeated taxation. Moreover, from another perspective, the consumption tax takes the form of in-price tax, which has certain concealment. Consumers will not know how much consumption tax they have paid when purchasing goods, and it is difficult to give full play to the role of guiding consumption.
4. China's consumption tax has a single taxation link.
China's current consumption tax is mostly levied in the upstream link of the production link, as shown in Table 2- 1. For the two downstream links of wholesale and retail, there are few tax links, which will cause many problems in the collection process. For example, the production links in the collection process, such as the production of raw materials and the manufacturing and processing of semi-finished products, are actually difficult to define. It is necessary to accurately define the distribution of products and the design of production links in wholesale and retail. Moreover, tax evasion is easy to happen and difficult to control. When producers or importers intentionally evade taxes, it is difficult to collect taxes evaded from other links. The simplification of tax collection links leads to cumbersome tax collection procedures, which is not conducive to the timely storage of taxes.
Three. Suggestions on consumption tax reform
Although different countries have different consumption tax systems, the functional orientation of consumption tax is the same. Through the analysis of consumption tax systems in various countries, we can find that, firstly, the consumption tax in some countries is enjoyed by the central and local governments, while the consumption tax in China is a central tax; In terms of the scope of taxation, although the scope of taxation varies from country to country, tobacco, refined oil, alcohol and automobiles are the most important components of consumption tax revenue. In recent years, the state has begun to attach importance to environmental protection, and some tax items that are not conducive to environmental protection have also been included in the scope of consumption tax. In the design of tax rate, people's consumption behavior can be adjusted by setting different tax rates. Some countries implement a progressive tax rate system for alcohol, which can reduce people's consumption of alcohol by increasing costs (Liu Zhicai, Huang, Liu Rong. Research on the Reform and Perfection of Consumption Tax System in China. Tax research). Consumption tax reform is the top priority of China's fiscal and taxation reform. We can learn from the successful experience of other countries and establish a consumption tax system with China characteristics in combination with China's economic development. Specifically, we can start from the following aspects.
1. Expand or adjust the scope of consumption tax.
First of all, the consumption of some high-end service industries should be included in the scope of taxation. For example, some high-end luxury goods that will not affect people's living standards after taxation can be added, such as high-end houses, villas, high-end clubs, golf and some products lacking resources. Secondly, consumer goods that are not conducive to ecological environment protection should also be included in the scope of taxation, such as solid wood furniture and plastic products; In addition, it is necessary to further improve the relevant supporting mechanisms, because the consumption tax reform will have adverse effects on some industries, so it is necessary to minimize these adverse effects when carrying out reforms. For example, the collection of consumption tax may reduce the profitability of industries related to high-consumption services and manufacturing, and may even increase the gap between the rich and the poor.
2. Optimize the consumption tax rate
On the one hand, the tax rate can be set according to the price of consumer goods and the degree of environmental pollution. On the other hand, high tax rate can reasonably guide high-end consumption behavior and reduce the tax rate of taxable consumer goods that have become mass consumer goods, but it is worth noting that the tax rate of high-end consumption behavior should not be too high, because too high tax rate will lead to the phenomenon that some high-end consumption will be transferred abroad, and eventually the overall tax revenue will be reduced (You Xiaoyu. Research on perfecting China's consumption tax system [D]. Dongbei University of Finance and Economics). At the same time, for some special commodities, excessive progressive or super progressive tax rates can also be implemented to give play to the function and role of consumption tax.
3. Change the in-price tax of consumption tax into the out-of-price tax.
Consumption tax, like value-added tax, is an indirect tax. In China, the consumption tax is calculated by in-price tax, while the internationally adopted method is out-of-price tax. When selling goods, the price and consumption tax are marked on the label. In this way, when consumers buy goods, they can clearly know the real price of goods and the tax burden borne by consumers themselves, and they can choose goods with maximum utility and lower cost (Sheng Hui. Research on China's consumption tax reform under the background of modern economic system [This way not only reflects the regulating effect of consumption tax on consumption behavior, but also has a certain positive effect on the operation of China's commodity price mechanism, and also enables consumers to have a deeper understanding of their taxpayer status, which is conducive to enhancing consumers' tax awareness. The tax calculation method of consumption tax is changed from in-price tax to out-of-price tax, which can make the value-added amount of the current VAT collector in China not include consumption tax, which is conducive to promoting the fairness of tax burden in China.
4. Move back the consumption tax collection link.
Because the policy effect of disposable wooden chopsticks is not obvious enough, it can be moved from production to consumption, so that consumers can realize the problems of scarce resources and policy guidance when they consume, so as to better save resources, moderately curb consumption and realize the adjustment function of consumption tax. At the same time, the consumption tax collection link will be moved back, and the collection link will be postponed to the commodity trading link, wholesale link, retail link and consumption behavior generation link, and the tax base will be expanded by combining multiple links. Moving the consumption tax collection link back, first, can reduce the burden of production links, help promote the expansion of production, accelerate production innovation, and promote the development of production enterprises in China. Secondly, moving the consumption tax collection link back can monitor the behavior of enterprises eroding the tax base by profit transfer, reduce the occurrence of such phenomena, and create more fiscal revenue for China, which is conducive to creating a civilized tax environment.
To sum up, consumption tax is an important tax in China. In addition to raising fiscal revenue, consumption tax is more important to regulate people's consumption behavior. Consumption tax can not only guide people's consumption demand, but also adjust the income gap between urban and rural areas. The current consumption tax is no longer suitable for China's current economic growth, and the reform of consumption tax is imminent. However, the consumption tax reform is not achieved overnight and should keep pace with the times. According to the direction and policy objectives of fiscal and taxation system reform, we should grasp its functional orientation from the aspects of adjusting the scope of taxation, selecting reasonable tax payment links and optimizing tax rate design, so as to give full play to the regulatory role of consumption tax. From the perspective of local governments, they should also cooperate. Local governments should improve the system and mechanism of consumption tax and optimize the local financial structure, but at the same time, they should avoid the distortion of local government behavior caused by encouraging tax growth. Substantial reform of consumption tax can better cater to the current economic development of China and make China's future economic development better and better.