Year: at the second session of the 8th CPPCC National Committee held in 1994

Proposal No: 0521

Proposer: The Central Committee of the China Democratic League

Abstract: 

1. Strengthening educational legislation and regulating government behavior with laws guarantees the healthy development of education. Regulations on the financing of compulsory education should be enacted as soon as possible. Fiscal budget appropriations and education surcharges should be the major source of investment in compulsory education, which requires a stable and growing funding source. 

2. Compulsory education is mainly sponsored by the government and the financing mechanism should be improved by combining state appropriation and other sources. The amount and proportion of educational expenditure in the fiscal budget should be increased annually after 1994, and reach about 17 percent by 2000. 

3. Higher taxation on consumption should be levied and used to help fund education. Education levies should be reformed. Starting from 1994, urban education levies should account for 3 percent of value-added tax, business tax and income tax, while rural education levies should account for 4 percent of the sales revenue of companies and individual businesses, and 1.5 to 2 percent of the average individual income of rural taxpayers. The levies should be exempted for farmers whose average income is less than 300 yuan. The levies should not replace fiscal appropriation. 

4. Rural areas should be encouraged to raise fund for schools. The methods should differ based on different conditions. 

5. The central and local governments should increase subsidies for compulsory education in poor areas. We suggest the central government allocate 700 million to 1 billion yuan every year for compulsory education by the end of 20th century. 

6. Supervision of local governments' investment into education should be tightened.