The Research On The Sub-provincial Intergovernmental Matching Of Administrative Power And Expenditure Responsibilities In Hebei Province

In the "Decision" which was passed during the Third Plenary Session of the 18 th CPC Central Committee,the "adaptive system for establishing authority and expenditure responsibilities" was clearly stated.In the "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of the Fiscal and Tax System," which was reviewed and approved by the Politburo in 2014,building up the system that is compatible with expenditure responsibilities" is one of the three emphatically important aspects of fiscal reform.The Party's 19 th National Congress in 2017 proposed the requirement of “establishing a clear balance of power and accountability,financial coordination,and regional balanced central and localbalanced regional and local financial relations”,which grants a general direction for the authority and expenditure responsibilities between the central and local governments.However,there is no clear division of powers and expenditure responsibilities between the provincial and sub-provincial governments.This is not conducive to achieving the goal of equalization of public services.This paper mainly studies the problem of the matching of the government's authority and expenditure responsibility in the sub-provinces of Hebei Province.As a practitioner of provincial-level fiscal system reform,Hebei Province,coupled with its sub-governments has actively explored the fiscal system reforms.In 2008,it firstly conducted the document called the “Pilot Opinions on the Trial Reform of the Fiscal Expenditure among its affiliated governments,” and the document selected 12 categories and 47 items to operate trial reform.The pilot reform has achieved good results.However,it did not solve the underlying problem.This paper selects the provincial government,city government,and county government of Hebei Province from 2011 to 2016 to analyze their powers of office and expenditure responsibilities.Through the horizontal comparison of the various levels of government expenditures and the vertical comparison of individual government fiscal expenditure structures,There is a mismatch existing the provincial government powers between powers of office and expenditure responsibilities in the provinces of Hebei Province.The main causes of mismatch are overlapping of government powers at all levels,blurred government and market boundaries,unclear expenditure responsibilities,and unscientific transfer payments.counties' overwhleming financial pressure and other reasons.Based on the efficiency and fairness of public services,this paper puts forward specific ideas for promoting the matching of the authority and expenditure responsibilities between the provincial governments in Hebei Province.Finally,from the aspects of scientific division of authority and expenditure responsibilities,advancement of authority and expenditure responsibility legalization,improvement of transfer payment system,and improvement of local financial power matching with local responsibilities,the paper puts forward specific countermeasures and suggestions to improve the authority and expenditure responsibilities of the provincial level.