Social alimony out of history

On July 20, the decision on optimizing the fertility policy and promoting the long-term balanced development of population (hereinafter referred to as the "decision") was officially released.

In organizing and implementing the three child birth policy, the "decision" proposes to abolish the social support fee, clean up and abolish the relevant punishment provisions, and completely decouple the household, school and employment from the personal fertility situation. As an economic measure to limit the willingness of childbearing, social support fee has officially withdrawn from the stage of history.

In an exclusive interview with surging news (www.thepaper. CN), Zhi Zhenfeng, a researcher at the Law Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the social support fee has completed its historical mission and it is natural to withdraw from the historical stage.

The name of social maintenance has evolved for several times, and the dispute of its existence and abolition has lasted for many years. Zhi Zhenfeng believes that as the aging population intensifies and people's desire to have children decreases, it is not appropriate to levy social support fees. However, Zhi Zhenfeng is not optimistic about the encouraging effect of abolishing social support fees on improving people's fertility willingness.

Social alimony after several changes

Social support fee, which has evolved several times, is accompanied by China's family planning system.

In the early 1980s, in order to control the rapid population growth, China began to implement the national policy of family planning in an all-round way. "Over birth" has become a kind of "illegal" behavior that needs to be rectified, accompanied by "over birth fine".

"At that time, the law was not perfect. Many places set their own fines for over birth. The standards and methods of fines vary greatly from place to place. Some local law enforcement is not civilized and standardized, and with the advancement of the policy, some contradictions between the cadres and the masses have been intensified. " Zhi Zhenfeng explained that with the progress of the rule of law in the country, the legal nature of the fine for over birth began to arouse different understandings.

In March 1992, the former State Family Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the State Price Bureau jointly promulgated the "measures for the administration of extra family planning expenses", which made it clear that extra family planning expenses were a kind of compensatory funds levied on those who had extra family planning in order to control the excessive population growth“ The "super fine" has changed from a simple administrative penalty for illegal acts to a restrictive and punitive administrative charge.

The "administrative punishment law" issued in 1996 further specified that those who exceed family planning should not be fined, but "extra family planning fees" can be levied.

In March 2000, the No.8 document of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly stipulated the implementation of the social maintenance fee collection system. In the same year, the Ministry of Finance and the State Family Planning Commission jointly issued a document, requiring all localities to change "extra family planning expenses" to "social support expenses".

On August 2, 2002, the State Council promulgated the administrative measures for the collection of social maintenance fees. Since then, the social support fee has completely replaced the "super fine" and has a clear legal basis.

"In terms of legal nature, social support fees are administrative fees, not administrative fines." Zhi Zhenfeng said that after the introduction of the "administrative measures for the collection of social maintenance fees", the nature of social maintenance fees has been clarified, and the collection standards, methods and methods have become more standardized.

Zhi Zhenfeng believes that although the name is different and the nature of the law is changing, it is actually through economic means to affect citizens' willingness to have children.

The dispute of retention and abolition for many years

As a matter of fact, the issue of the retention and abolition of social support has been controversial.

"It was mentioned more than ten years ago, because China's aging population is deepening, and there are many different views on the collection of social support fees." Zhi Zhenfeng said that at that time, the national population and health department judged that China's population pressure was still relatively high, and the national economic and social resources still carried relatively high pressure.

In order to make social support fees more standardized, in November 2014, the website of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council published the regulations on the collection and administration of social support fees (Draft for examination) (hereinafter referred to as the regulations (Draft for examination)) and solicited opinions from the public. This is the first "overhaul" of the "administrative measures for the collection of social maintenance fees".

The regulations (Draft for examination) have been revised a lot, such as unifying the collection standards, standardizing the collection subjects, increasing the collection procedures, and further clarifying that the collection of social maintenance fees should implement two lines of revenue and expenditure, ensure that the full amount is turned over to the state treasury, and actively disclose the annual total amount of collection.

"From the method to the regulation, the nature of the regulation has not changed, because the method is also an administrative regulation, but the regulation is more formal." Zhi Zhenfeng explained.

However, the promulgation of the regulations (Draft for examination) has caused more social disputes. Some people think that the social support fee should be abolished because of the repeated illegal collection, interception and misappropriation of funds; Some people think that it should be improved through legislation.

On December 2, 2014, in response to public concern, the then national health and Family Planning Commission convened some scholars to interpret issues such as social maintenance fees. Experts attending the meeting believe that the revised regulations (Draft for examination) will effectively deal with the problems of different collection standards of social maintenance fees and the confusion of income and expenditure, which are more criticized by the society, and the management of social maintenance fees will be more standardized.

"At that time, the opinions of all parties were not unified, and there were quite a lot of disputes." Zhi Zhenfeng said that the final "Regulations (Draft for examination)" had not been officially released, and the dispute over the retention or abolition of social maintenance fees was not settled.

It is no longer appropriate to continue to collect social support fees

In zhizhenfeng's view, it's natural to cancel the social support fee now. Zhi Zhenfeng participated in the investigation of local fertility. In his view, the original family planning policy has achieved great results, and the situation outside family planning has shown a decreasing trend in many provinces.

Zhi Zhenfeng told surging news that with the introduction of optimized birth policies such as single two child and comprehensive two child, people's desire to have children has not been greatly improved under the more friendly and inclusive birth policy, and the collection of social support fees is becoming less and less“ In a sense, it is not appropriate to continue to collect social support fees. The cost is high, but the benefit is small. "

How much effect can the abolition of social support fee play on the improvement of fertility intention“ There will certainly be an encouraging effect, but it's hard to assess how big the effect is. " Zhizhenfeng is not particularly optimistic about this.

On May 31, after the news of the implementation of the policy and supporting measures for a couple to have three children was released, many netizens raised the issue of making up for social support fees.

It is mentioned in the "decision" that the cancellation of social support fees should deal with the problems left over by history in accordance with the law and regulations.

What are the problems left over by history? How to deal with it? Zhi Zhenfeng explained to the surging news that there are generally two situations. One is that before the new regulations come into effect, the collection of social maintenance fees has been completed. The second situation is that the implementation of the new policy has not been completed.

In view of the fact that the collection of social support fees has been completed, in accordance with the principle of non retroactivity of the law, in order to maintain the stability and authority of the law, this situation must be maintained.

"That is to say, the social support fee paid will not be refunded." Zhi Zhenfeng said that in the second case, when the new provisions are inconsistent with the old provisions, they will be implemented in accordance with the principle of benefiting the parties. If it should be paid but not paid, it will not be paid after the social support fee is cancelled; If the court is in the process of enforcement, it should also terminate the enforcement.