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-- Government housing support
We will provide strong support for the rebuilding of housing in rundown urban areas, and continue to promote the development of public rental housing and other government-subsidized housing as well as supporting infrastructure development. We will improve the way people displaced by rebuilding initiatives are helped to relocate and the way public rental housing is allocated, and push to see cities with large housing inventory increase the proportion of people receiving monetary housing compensation rather than housing. We will continue to make progress in renovating dilapidated rural housing, and central government subsidy funds will be used primarily for rebuilding unsafe housing for people eligible for subsistence allowances, for individuals who live at home in rural areas in extreme poverty and receive basic assistance, for the families of people with disabilities affected by poverty, and for households registered as living under the poverty line. Subsidies will also be appropriately increased.
-- Culture and sports
We will support local governments in their implementation of the national standards to guide the provision of basic public cultural services. We will strengthen support for the protection and proper use of cultural relics, and support the implementation of the initiative to develop and pass on China's fine cultural traditions. We will support efforts topromote the creation and production of works of literature and art and share Chinese culture with the outside world. We will increase the level of coordination between investments, resources, and policies for nonprofit cultural institutions and for-profit cultural enterprises, working to form a systematic and comprehensive fiscal policy system for the cultural sector. We will also improve the public sports facilities throughout the country and diversify the supply of services in the sports sector.
-- National defense
We will support efforts to deepen the reform of national defense and the armed forces, with the aim of building a solid national defense and strong armed forces that are commensurate with China's international standing and are suited to our national security and development interests. We will ensure that adequate funds are available to promote further military-civilian development.
-- Fiscal operations and safeguards for basic living standards in regions with acute financial difficulties
We will continue to increase short-term financial subsidies, and coordinate transfer payments to local governments including those for awards and subsidies for implementing the mechanism to ensure the basic financial capacity of county-level governments. We will intensify support to regions that are highly dependent on resources or energy and regions facing fiscal difficulties, and will bolster the safeguards that ensure basic needs are met. We will continue to increase transfer payments to old revolutionary bases, ethnic minority areas, and border areas.
-- Central investment in infrastructure
The central government will earmark 507.6 billion yuan for investment in infrastructure. The expenditure structure will be further improved, with a reduction in subsidizing small and miscellaneous projects, and a focus on poverty alleviation achieved by helping people living in inhospitable areas to relocate, major water conservancy projects and post-disaster water conservancy reconstruction, the improvement of city drainage facilities, a new round of work to upgrade rural power grids, railway construction in the central and western regions, and the rebuilding of rundown urban areas.
-- Cuts in general expenditures
Central departments will take the lead in tightening their belts, with major adjustments and reductions being made to the central government's regular expenditures. This will include the following.
First, we will continue to strictly limit the budget for spending on official overseas visits, official vehicles, and official hospitality in line with the principle that there should only be cuts, and no increases, to such spending. We will reduce expenditures related to meetings, training, publicity, consultation, "soft" research projects, and enterprise-related subsidies.
Second, expenditures for projects where there is some flexibility and for non-key projects will be cut by a margin not lower than 5 percent.
Third, budgetary appropriations will no longer be provided for projects whose policy goals have already been achieved, and new budgets are required for projects for which the environment for implementation has changed.
At the same time, we will require and guide local governments to ensure their related work, including reducing their general expenditures, is carried out to good effect, and take a firm stand against extravagance, waste, and unrestrained spending.
3. Revenue and expenditures for 2017
1) General public budgets
Revenue in the central government's general public budget is expected to reach 7.8612 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.8 percent over the actual figure for 2016. Adding in the 135 billion yuan from the Central Budget Stabilization Fund and the 28.3 billion yuan from the budgets of central government-managed funds and central government state capital operations, revenue for 2017 should total 8.0245 trillion yuan. Expenditures through the central government's general public budget are projected to reach 9.5745 trillion yuan, an increase of 6.1 percent. Total expenditures are projected to exceed total revenue, leaving a deficit of 1.55 trillion yuan, an increase of 150 billion yuan over last year. The ceiling for the outstanding balance of central government bonds is 14.140835 trillion yuan. The Central Budget Stabilization Fund is projected to carry a balance of 132.806 billion yuan.
Expenditures in the central government's general public budget are divided into central government expenditures, tax rebates and transfer payments to local governments, and payments to central government reserve funds.
(1) Central government expenditures are projected to reach 2.9595 trillion yuan, up 6.5 percent over last year, a drop of 0.5 percentage points over the 7 percent growth rate project for 2016.
(2) Tax rebates are projected to be 913.8 billion yuan. This includes 703.643 billion yuan in VAT rebates, 101.092 billion yuan in excise tax rebates, 91.019 billion yuan in income tax rebates for making up the difference when local government income tax revenue falls short of the figure for 2001, 153.11 billion yuan in tax rebates resulting from the reform of taxes and fees related to refined oil products, and tax rebates on the counterbalance of the revenue turned over by local governments.
(3) Transfer payments are projected to amount to 5.6512 trillion yuan, up 7 percent over last year, an increase of 1.4 percentage points over the 5.6 percent projected growth rate for 2016. This is mainly due to increases in transfer payments for equalizing access to basic public services, financial subsidies to poor regions, and investments in helping local governments further strengthen areas of weakness. Of this amount, general transfer payments are projected to come to 3.503049 trillion yuan, up 9.5 percent; and special transfer payments are projected to reach 2.148151 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.1 percent. General transfer payments include 2.230883 trillion yuan in transfer payments for equalizing access to basic public services, up 8 percent, and 183.29 billion yuan in transfer payments to old revolutionary bases, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and poor areas, up 19 percent. We will continue to ensure the coverage of special transfer payments in agriculture, education, social security, medical care, employment, ecological conservation, housing support, and other key areas. We will further overhaul special transfer payments by merging and reorganizing a number of items and appropriately reducing the payment amounts for certain items.(more)
