CRI听力: China Continues Efforts to Help Farmers

Seven government departments have come together in a major effort to reform China's agricultural tax system and address a number of problems, which include fees that many farmers are still paying, even though they don't have to.

Tingting explains.

Chen Xun is a local official in China's major agricultural province of An'hui and is helping with work on tax reform within the agricultural sector.

Chen says that although the country's rural tax reforms have largely streamlined, standardized and regulated the fees farmers need to pay over recent years, more work still needs to be done.

According to the official, 40 percent of farmers in An'hui have had to pay illegitimate fees or fines with regard to building houses last year.

"Some local level government officials have ignored the national regulations, and some of the farmers were unaware some of their charges were illegitimate. And even though some farmers knew about the new regulations, they still submitted the fees to avoid unnecessary trouble."

Curbing such illegitimate charges was cited as a primary focus for the government this year in a document focusing on the problem issued recently by seven governmental organizations including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education.

The document highlights several illegitimate costs farmers are asked to pay with regard to nine-year compulsory education, road building and the construction of new homes, among others.

Chen applauds the measures recommended in the document. He says the publication will help to focus his work and believes the fact that the document is issued every year illustrates the level of importance the government attaches to the matter.

Despite this, Chen recommends the government introduce an additional law to help his work.

"The existing administrative regulations were issued in 1991, when the rural tax reform had not even come into existence. Circumstances have now changed. If we had a new law to clarify these details, our work would be easier."

The Chinese government started its agricultural tax reform in the 1990s to reduce the financial burden on agricultural workers. In 2005, the country ended a 2,600 year history of taxing farmers. At the same time, regulations on farming costs were also largely standardized. However, in practice, local governments still face significant challenges with respect to implementing such changes on the ground.

For CRI, I'm Tingting.