The State Council Information Office held a series of themed press conferences on "Promoting High-Quality Development" on the 31st. Wang Jianfan, Director of the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance, stated at the meeting that central government authority should be appropriately strengthened and the proportion of central fiscal expenditure increased.

Wang Jianfan stated that the fiscal relationship between the central and local governments is a fundamental component of the division of powers and responsibilities between governments. Adjustments to the fiscal system have played a very important role in enhancing the central government's capacity for macro-control, mobilizing local enthusiasm for economic development, and promoting the formation of a unified national market, effectively driving sustained and healthy economic and social development. The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made a series of new arrangements for reforming and improving the fiscal relationship between the central and local governments, clarifying the goals and direction for deepening fiscal system reform.

In terms of revenue division, local autonomous financial resources should be increased and local tax sources expanded. The collection stage of consumption tax should be moved backward and steadily devolved to local governments, and the sharing ratio of shared taxes should be optimized. Management of non-tax revenue should be standardized, and some management authority over non-tax revenue should be appropriately devolved, with local governments exercising differentiated management in light of actual conditions.

In terms of transfer payments, the fiscal transfer payment system should be improved, special transfer payments should be cleaned up and standardized, general transfer payments should be increased, and the degree of match between the financial resources and administrative powers of cities and counties should be enhanced. An incentive and constraint mechanism for transfer payments that promotes high-quality development should be established. The cleanup and standardization efforts focus primarily on special transfer payments, while increasing general transfer payments corresponds to the reform goal of increasing local autonomous financial resources.

In terms of the division of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities, central government authority should be appropriately strengthened and the proportion of central fiscal expenditure increased. Central fiscal powers should in principle be funded through expenditures arranged at the central level itself, reducing the delegation of central fiscal powers to local governments for implementation. Local governments must not be improperly required to arrange matching funds; where it is truly necessary to delegate powers to local governments, funds should be arranged through special transfer payments.

Wang Jianfan stated that the Ministry of Finance will, in accordance with the arrangements of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, strive to establish a central-local fiscal relationship featuring clear powers and responsibilities, coordinated financial resources, and regional balance, persistently carry out reform tasks with a nail-driving spirit, and better mobilize the enthusiasm of both the central and local governments.