The plan introduced in 2003 to reduce and ultimately scrap the
agricultural tax has had more far-reaching effects than merely
reducing the farmers' financial burden: new research shows that it
has also improved rural democracy.
The tighter restrictions on taxation have prevented rural cadres
from arbitrarily collecting fees and given farmers a say in locally
funded infrastructure projects.
"Villagers finally obtained the right to decide for themselves
after the reform," said Han Jun, a senior policy advisor with the
State Council
Development and Research Center.
Before the reform, besides officially approved taxes, village
and township cadres were believed to levy additional fees of around
100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) every year.
In the past, the money was pumped into various schemes,
including building infrastructure and paying the wages of rural
cadres, but there was no effective supervision of fund allocation,
according to Han.
After the tax-scrapping reform was launched in 2003, the central
and provincial governments promised to transfer funds to support
local projects and forbade rural cadres from raising money under
the guise of levying agricultural taxes.
Now when local governments want to build or upgrade
infrastructure, they must follow specific procedures to inform the
farmers of where and how the money will be spent.
The "one issue, one discussion and vote" pattern, which for the
first time allows farmers in a community to take part in the
decision-making process, has been spreading rapidly in rural
areas.
The recent decision by villagers to build a three-kilometer road
in Tongjiang County, a poor, mountainous area of southwest China's
Sichuan
Province, is an example of how grass-roots activism is
working.
After hearing details of the plan for the road, most of the 100
residents of the county's Chengzishan Village voted for the
project, which would link them with the outside world. They all
agreed that each resident should donate 20 yuan (US$2.40) to build
a 5-meter section of road.
"This is an excellent example of farmers participating in their
own affairs after the scrapping of the tax," said Zhang Haoliang,
head of a nongovernmental poverty research organization based in
the county.
He said the farmers have become active in supporting rural
infrastructure projects, now that they are now free of the tax
levies and encouraged to have a say. Previously, they were forced
to participate in such projects, and many were charged nearly 300
yuan (US$36) a year.
Zhang said that in his county, more than half of the 500
villages cannot be reached by road and nearly one-third of its
630,000 residents do not have access to clean drinking water.
Wang Yong, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, is encouraged by the trend, but warns that if the "one
issue, one discussion and vote" practice is abused by local
governments, the burden on farmers will once again increase.
"So what we need to do is to ensure the entire decision-making
process is open and transparent, to reflect the willingness of
farmers in a community," said Wang.
(China Daily April 18, 2005)