Full text: Report on China's central, local budgets (3)

2. Budgetary revenue and expenditure in 2014

(1) General public budgets

Revenue in the general public budgets nationwide totaled 14.034974 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.6% over 2013 (as below). Adding the 100 billion yuan from the Central Budget Stabilization Fund, utilized revenue totaled 14.134974 trillion yuan. Expenditure in the general public budgets nationwide amounted to 15.166154 trillion yuan, up 8.2%. Including the 219.52 billion yuan used to replenish the Central Budget Stabilization Fund and local budget stabilization funds and carried forward to the 2015 local budgets, and the 99.3 billion yuan used to repay the principal on local government bonds, expenditure totaled 15.484974 trillion yuan. Total expenditure therefore exceeded total revenue, leaving a deficit of 1.35 trillion yuan.

There was a further slowdown in the growth rate of revenue in the general public budgets nationwide. There were several reasons for this. First, downward pressure on the economy was great, and growth in indexes including industrial production, consumption, investment, and corporate profit demonstrated varying levels of decline, leading to slower growth in revenue from VAT, corporate income tax, and other major forms of tax. Second, the producer price index (PPI) was constantly falling, and the consumer price index (CPI) remained low, which had an impact on the growth of government revenue as calculated according to current prices. Third, policies to make adjustments to the real estate market grew in impact, and there was a steep decline in housing sales, leading to a significant slowdown in the growth of revenue from real estate business tax, corporate income tax from enterprises in the real estate industry, and deed transfer tax. In addition, expansion of the pilot scheme to replace business tax with VAT and implementation of other policies also led to certain reductions in government revenue.

Revenue in the central government's general public budget amounted to 6.449001 trillion yuan, 100.2% of the budgeted figure and an increase of 7.1%. Adding the 100 billion yuan contributed by the Central Budget Stabilization Fund, total revenue used by the central government came to 6.549001 trillion yuan. Expenditure from the central government's general public budget amounted to 7.417436 trillion yuan, 99.1% of the budgeted figure and an increase of 8.3% (this includes 2.256991 trillion yuan in central government spending, 100.3% of the budgeted figure and an increase of 10.2%). Adding the 81.565 billion yuan used to replenish the Central Budget Stabilization Fund, central government expenditure totaled 7.499001 trillion yuan. Total central government expenditure exceeded total central government revenue, leaving a deficit of 950 billion yuan, which was the figure budgeted for. Government bonds in the central budget had an outstanding balance of 9.565545 trillion yuan at the end of 2014, which meant it had been kept within the limit of 10.070835 trillion yuan budgeted for the year. The Central Budget Stabilization Fund had a balance of 134.115 billion yuan.

Figure 1

Balance of Central Government Finances in the General Public Budget in 2014

Revenue in local governments' general public budgets came to 7.585973 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.9%. Adding the 5.160445 trillion yuan in tax rebates and transfer payments from the central government, local government revenue in their general public budgets totaled 12.746418 trillion yuan. Local government expenditure in their general public budgets amounted to 12.909163 trillion yuan, up 7.8%. Adding the 137.955 billion yuan used to replenish local budget stabilization funds and carried over to 2015 plus the 99.3 billion yuan used to repay the principal on local government bonds, local government expenditure totaled 13.146418 trillion yuan. Total expenditure of local governments exceeded their total revenue, leading to a local government deficit of 400 billion yuan.

Figure 2

Balance of Local Government Finances in the General Public Budget in 2014

The following passages detail the specifics on the implementation of the central government's general public budget in 2014.

1) Main revenue items

Domestic VAT revenue was 2.110297 trillion yuan, 97% of the budgeted figure. This shortfall was mainly due to increases in value added of industry and commodity prices being lower than projected at the beginning of the year, while the replacement of business tax with VAT also led to a considerable increase in business VAT deductions. Revenue from domestic consumption tax was 890.682 billion yuan, 100.4% of the budgeted figure. Revenue from VAT and consumption tax on imports amounted to 1.44244 trillion yuan, 96.6% of the budgeted figure. This discrepancy was mainly due to falls in both the prices of imported bulk commodities and the total volume of imports. Revenue from customs duties came to 284.319 billion yuan, 101.4% of the budgeted figure. Corporate income tax revenue was 1.58125 trillion yuan, 101.3% of the budgeted figure. Individual income tax revenue was 442.596 billion yuan, 103.2% of the budgeted figure. VAT and consumption tax rebates on exports came to 1.135648 trillion yuan, 100.2% of the budgeted figure. Non-tax revenue totaled 445.758 billion yuan, 119.3% of the budgeted figure, which was mainly attributable to the increase in profits turned over to the central government by some financial institutions.

Revenue in the central government's general public budget exceeded the budgeted figure by 11.001 billion yuan in 2014, which was used to replenish the Central Budget Stabilization Fund and carried over to 2015 budgets in accordance with the newly revised Budget Law and other relevant regulations. (Mo