Generally speaking, the tax items of a country's consumption tax law are mostly set based on its economic policies in a specific period to guide the consumption direction, adjust the consumption structure and affect the production structure. From the consumption tax items of countries all over the world, sugar, soft drinks and their substitutes are the most widely used edible products, which are collected by 65 countries; 29 countries levy consumption tax on salt, and 27 countries levy consumption tax on luxury cosmetics and perfumes.
Part D of Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States divides the consumption tax into 39 tax items, covering fuel, environmental tax, communication, transportation, foreign insurance, trucks and trailers and other vehicles, manufacturing, tobacco, gambling, alcohol, port tax and so on. Each tax item also contains many subheadings, which are very complicated, and there are hundreds of tax items, large and small. This also reflects the highly developed commodity economy in the United States. In addition, the code also stipulates that the tax items of alcohol are monopolized by the state and finance, which makes the restrictions on such goods harmful to health rise to the height of the state, which is convenient for overall management and worth learning. Another feature of American consumption tax is earmarking. It is worth learning to levy consumption tax on many taxable items and form specific funds, such as highway trust fund, airport and airline trust fund, silicosis disability trust fund, etc., for the federal expenditure of related projects to avoid occupying special funds.
Comparatively speaking, China's consumption tax law stipulates that there are 1 1 tax items. They are: wine, cigarettes, precious jewels and jade, cosmetics, skin care products, firecrackers, fireworks, gasoline, diesel, automobile tires, motorcycles and automobiles (including cars, off-road vehicles and buses). Each tax item is subdivided into 16 subhead, with a total of 23 consumption tax items. They are all determined after selection and modification on the basis of original product tax and value-added tax.
(B) Comparison of consumption tax rates between China and the United States
At present, a common feature of tax reform in countries around the world, led by the United States, is the trend of emphasizing both direct and indirect taxes from the past, and even indirect taxes. In the reform of commodity tax collection, countries focus on the reform of consumption tax, especially in the tax rate.
Judging from the development trend of consumption tax, it has increasingly highlighted the nature of complementary goods and service tax, and its special adjustment tax function has become increasingly obvious. In Japan, Italy, Belgium and other countries, some consumption tax has been excluded from the scope of value-added tax, especially in Japan, although it is also called consumption tax, it is actually a kind of value-added tax.
What are the reasons for the different value orientations between China and the United States? There are many reasons. Personally, historical reasons are an important part. China has a long history of 5,000 years, while the United States has only a few hundred years, which makes American culture more popular and faster, while China is more traditional, which can be seen in movies, and then regional culture.
What are the reasons for the differences between Chinese and American children? There are many different educational ideas. For example, parents in China want their children to be obedient, while parents in the United States want their children to be independent and have their own personality. There are many others.
What are the reasons for the differences between Chinese and American family education? There are many reasons for the differences in education between countries. Education in China is more because parents of students in China interfere too much for the utilitarian needs of society, while parents of students in the United States interfere less.
Reasons for Sino-US Trade Deficit Since China implemented the reform and opening-up policy in the late 1970s, Sino-US economic and trade relations have made great progress. According to the data provided by the website of the Ministry of Commerce of China, the trade volume between China and the United States was $2.45 billion in 1979, and the total trade volume between China and the United States reached $210/63 billion in 2005. In 2005, China exported US$ 654.38+062.9 billion and imported US$ 48.73 billion, with a surplus of US$ 654.38+065.438+047.7 billion. According to US statistics, the US trade deficit with China surged by 24.5% in 2005, reaching $201600 million. In Sino-US trade, the United States showed a surplus at 1979- 1982, and began to show a deficit at 1983. The trade deficit of 1996 reached $39.5 billion. China's statistics show that during the period of 1979- 1992, China has been in a deficit, from 1993 to a surplus, and the surplus from 1996 was/kloc-0.05 billion US dollars. Obviously, there are obvious differences in the statistics of bilateral trade balance between China and the United States.
1. What is the actual scale of Sino-US trade deficit?
The reasons why the US statistical method overestimates the Sino-US trade deficit are as follows: On the one hand, the US generally calculates the entrepot trade between China and Hong Kong in Sino-US trade, but in fact a large part of it is attributed to the entrepot trade of other countries or regions other than China through Hong Kong; On the other hand, when calculating the import and export of the United States to China, the export amount is calculated on FOB basis and the import amount is calculated on CIF basis, so that the double amount of handling, transportation and insurance expenses is included in the Sino-US trade deficit. The official statistics of China and the United States in the last five years are shown in table 1, which shows that the deviation of the trade deficit calculated by both sides is decreasing year by year, but it is still very large. The existing statistical methods in the United States seriously overestimate the actual amount of the trade deficit between China and the United States.
Even if the difference in statistical methods is taken into account and the trade deficit between China and the United States is corrected (between them, but closer to the official figures of China), the adjusted trade deficit is still much higher than its true value, mainly due to the international industrial transfer and the trade pattern of China. In the process of rapid economic development in China, China has obvious comparative advantages because of its relatively low production cost. Many countries or regions gradually transfer manufacturing to China. On the one hand, it transferred their trade surplus with the United States to China; On the other hand, it also promoted the development of China's processing trade. At present, China's processing trade accounts for more than 50% of the total trade, most of which are carried out by foreign-invested enterprises. The processing trade mode belongs to the production trade mode with two ends outside, that is, the raw materials are imported and the final products are mainly used for export; Moreover, due to low labor costs and a large number of preferential measures such as taxation for foreign-funded enterprises, most of the added value has gone into the pockets of foreign businessmen, and the income of employees in China and China is very limited.
Judging from the regional structure of the trade deficit of the United States, the proportion of the European Union and the Middle East shows an obvious upward trend, while the overall deficit of Southeast Asia with the United States shows a downward trend. In fact, the trade deficit of the United States with China is largely caused by Japan, South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries or regions. By transferring the manufacturing industry to China, their trade surplus with the United States was also transferred to China. Due to the low wages of China's labor force and preferential tax policies for foreign investors, most of the benefits of this industrial transfer and trade surplus transfer are obtained by foreign investors and their home countries, but in the balance of payments, it is manifested in the increase of China's surplus.
Judging from the economic development level and industrial structure of China and the United States, there is a strong economic complementarity between China and the United States: China has a comparative advantage in labor-intensive products, while the United States has a comparative advantage in technology-intensive products. According to the normal international trade pattern, China and the United States focus on producing products with comparative advantages, and exchanging needed commodities through trade can greatly promote the economic development of the two countries and improve people's living standards. However, by restricting the export of high-tech products to China, the United States artificially distorts the reasonable international division of labor between China and the United States; At the same time, due to the international industrial transfer and China's processing trade mode, the production and export of high-tech products that China does not have a comparative advantage have risen rapidly. In fact, more than 80% of high-tech products are exported by two foreign-funded enterprises.
Therefore, the huge trade deficit between China and the United States is mainly due to three reasons: American export restrictions on high-tech products have caused a certain degree of trade imbalance between China and the United States, international industrial transfer and China's processing trade model have greatly expanded the amount of the trade deficit between China and the United States, and American statistical methods have further seriously overestimated the scale of the trade deficit between China and the United States.
Second, the United States has benefited a lot from Sino-US trade.
Due to the economic laws such as economic development stage, technological progress and industrial structure adjustment, the industrial structure of the United States has undergone tremendous changes, and the proportion of agriculture and manufacturing in GDP and employment has been declining. The American economy is entering the post-industrial era of informationization and service industry. In the international economic system dominated by the United States and other western developed countries, the United States enjoys great benefits from international division of labor and international trade by importing cheap consumer goods and exporting high-tech products with high added value. At the same time, the hegemonic position of the American economy and the dollar not only enables the United States to fully enjoy this benefit, but also obtains huge "seigniorage" benefits.
According to the profit theory of international trade, the United States not only enjoys the benefits of international division of labor, but also obtains the profit distribution after participating in international trade. First of all, it analyzes the exchange gains gained by the United States in Sino-US trade. China is a developing country with low labor costs, but it is short of funds and relatively backward in science and technology. The United States is an economically developed country with abundant capital and advanced technology, but the labor cost is high. China mainly exports labor-intensive products such as textiles, clothing, shoes, toys, household appliances and travel bags to the United States. The United States mainly exports aircraft, power equipment, mechanical equipment, electronic devices, communication equipment and chemical products, as well as agricultural products such as grain and cotton to China. The complementarity and mutual benefit of the trade product structure have effectively promoted the development of trade between the two countries.
The quality and cheap goods provided by China to the American market can not only meet the needs of American consumers, but also bring two major benefits to the American economy: First, the United States can shift a lot of resources to high-tech industries, promote the optimization of industrial structure, and maintain its international leading position; Second, these cheap and high-quality China exports help to maintain price stability in the United States, so that the United States can maintain its economy and maintain huge military expenditures with expansionary fiscal and monetary policies such as low tax rate, high fiscal deficit and low interest rate, without worrying about the impact of inflation on the economy.
As far as trade itself is concerned, although the rapid growth of Sino-US trade can promote the economic development of both sides, it is American enterprises that benefit the most from it. More than 50% of China's import and export belongs to foreign-led processing trade, and the proportion of processing trade in Sino-US trade is close to 70%. Due to tax reduction and land concessions, China * * * receives less benefits from foreign-funded enterprises than domestic enterprises, while employees in China receive less benefits than people usually expect, because their wages are lower, their working hours are longer, and social welfare measures lag behind domestic enterprises. On the contrary, foreign investors enjoy benefits far beyond the accounting books through global transfer pricing, profit sharing and dividend distribution. Of course, the above analysis of the benefits of the United States from Sino-US trade has not included the contribution of China's products exports to the employment and output of the tertiary industries such as warehousing, transportation, wholesale, retail, insurance and finance in the United States.
According to the basic principle of international trade, the trade deficit of the United States means the outflow of dollars, that is, Americans have to pay for the excessive consumption of imported goods. What did they pay for it? The trick lies in the capital and financial accounts of the balance of payments. There are three ways for Americans to pay for imported goods: one is to start the printing machine to print US dollar bills, the cost is far less than the value represented by the US dollar, and the difference is the seigniorage. The hegemonic position of the dollar and this payment method mean that the United States is taxing other countries or regions; The second is to issue government bonds for other countries or regions to buy, the essence of which is to borrow money from other countries or regions at low interest rates; The third is the exchange of export commodities. As for the trade deficit, it is actually one of the first two ways: either exporting dollars to tax other countries or regions, or letting other countries or regions buy American bonds and borrow money from abroad at low interest rates.
One of the reasons for the huge foreign trade deficit of the United States is determined by its basic economic and institutional factors. The adjustment of American industrial structure is mainly manifested in the following aspects: with the vigorous development of the world scientific and technological revolution after the Second World War and the third large-scale industrial transfer in the history of world industrial development, American multinational companies have used their various monopoly advantages to invest heavily in developing countries, transferring labor-intensive, resource and energy-consuming and polluting industries and low value-added processing industries and technologies to developing countries, and at the same time focusing on developing high-tech industries and services at home. This industrial restructuring in the United States has accelerated the pace of imports. At the same time, after entering the 1990s, the United States further utilized its scientific and technological advantages and production advantages to shape the most favorable international division of labor pattern for the United States. The internal trade of multinational corporations and intra-industry trade of foreign countries have become the main reasons for the sharp increase in the US trade deficit. American multinational companies have a large number of subsidiaries around the world. A large number of goods and services originally produced or exported in China were transformed into huge production and export by overseas subsidiaries, which correspondingly increased the imports of American companies from overseas subsidiaries to the United States, thus expanding the "foreign trade deficit" of the United States.
China's export of labor-intensive products is conducive to the adjustment of American industrial structure. Because the United States can use the trade with China to transfer labor-intensive industries overseas, and domestic demand can be met by imports, which will help the United States to concentrate its capital and labor, turn to knowledge-based new technology industries and service industries, and adjust its industrial structure.
Judging from the main commodity structure of Sino-US trade in recent years, the trade imbalance between the two sides basically belongs to the reasonable international division of labor between China and the United States, which is the result of China's exerting two comparative advantages-inter-industry comparative advantage and intra-industry comparative advantage. In 2002, the top five commodities exported by China to the United States were miscellaneous products (18.44%), office machinery and automatic data processing equipment (110.7%), telecommunications and recording and playback equipment (10.74%) and shoes (8.7%). From the above data alone, in recent years, the economic and trade pattern of China's exports to the United States, mainly textiles and clothing, began to change, and the export share of computer communication products showed an upward trend. However, a very important problem is that the mainstream of China's high-tech products export is still processing trade, accounting for 89.65% of the total high-tech products export. Therefore, China's exports to the United States are still mainly labor-intensive products. From 1997 to 200 1, the top five products exported by the United States to China are aircraft, communication equipment, picture tubes, oily products and automatic data processors. American exports to China are obviously technology-intensive and capital-intensive products with high design and marketing technology, as well as agricultural products with strong international competitiveness. However, because the United States has always imposed strict high-tech export control on China, it is difficult for the United States to give full play to its comparative advantages with China, and it is also difficult to fully reflect the complementary advantages of their products, which is the most fundamental reason for the trade imbalance between China and the United States.
Table 1 Scale of Sino-US trade deficit: US caliber and China caliber Unit: US$ 100 million.
Project 1999
U.S. official number (1) 686.77 838.33 830.961030.651240.681619.78.
China official figures (2) 224.69 297.36 280.80 427.08 586.438+0 802.
( 1—2)/2 205.7% 18 1.9% 195.9% 14 1.3% 1 1 1.7% 102.0%
(Global perspective is taken from Economic Theory and Economic Management, No.5, 2006)
China should calmly analyze the causes of Sino-US trade surplus.
First of all, China and the United States have different statistical calibers. For example, in 2004, the statistical surplus of China was $80 billion, and that of the United States was $654.38+060 billion, a difference of about one time. The reason is that the principle of "origin" adopted by the United States in statistics does not include trade in services and CIF prices. , all these have caused the difference with China's statistics.
Second, there are still structural problems in Sino-US trade. China's export products are mostly low-end products; The United States exports mostly high-end products, and the total amount is not large. According to statistics, among all high-tech products imported from China, American goods only account for about 10%. Cheng Siwei joked, "You can't keep asking us to buy planes. You have to sell us something else. If you don't increase exports, how can trade be balanced? "
"Now some people in the United States politicize trade issues, which is not good. I once heard an American Congressman say in his speech,' Look, the ship from China to the United States is full, and the ship from the United States to China is empty. It can be seen that Sino-US trade is so unbalanced that many people in the United States are unemployed. "I don't think this is surprising: what we sell you are shoes, toys and clothes, which must be shipped, of course, full; You sold us software and chips, not by sea, but by plane. " Cheng Siwei hopes that the two sides can discuss ways to solve the trade balance instead of politicizing the trade issue.
According to Chinese statistics, the total trade volume between China and the United States in 2005 reached 21163 million US dollars, of which China exported 0162.9 million US dollars and imported 48.73 billion US dollars, increasing by 24.8%, 9. 1% and 30.4% respectively. Yi Xiaozhun, Vice Minister of Commerce, made an analysis of this, and only from the figures, the deficit of the United States is relatively large, but a little analysis shows that Sino-US economic and trade relations are actually mutually beneficial and win-win, and the distribution of interests between the two sides is generally balanced.
Yi Xiaozhun believes that, first of all, a large number of international manufacturing industries have moved to China, and the sales of multinational companies, overseas sales and project companies have increased greatly, resulting in a relatively large trade deficit between the United States and China. In 2005, 58% of China's total exports came from foreign-invested enterprises, with a net trade surplus of $84.4 billion, accounting for 83% of China's total trade surplus. If this part is deducted, China's trade surplus is only175 billion US dollars.
In particular, Yi Xiaozhun pointed out that the trade diversion of American multinational companies has also brought about a larger trade deficit. If the net overseas sales and import and export of multinational companies are deducted, the deficit in the United States will be greatly reduced, and even a surplus will appear. Excluding the affiliated trade of multinational companies, the trade deficit of the United States will decrease by two thirds, while the deficit with China will decrease by 30%. If China's processing trade surplus or foreign-invested enterprises' surplus is deducted, China's surplus with the United States will be reduced by 9 1% and 73% respectively.
In addition, international industrial transfer has also led to the transfer of trade surplus, and some East Asian countries' trade surplus with the United States has been transferred to China with their investment in China.
Nevertheless, China has made great efforts to reduce the trade deficit between China and the United States. In 2005, China surpassed Britain to become the fourth largest export market in the United States, and it is also the country with the fastest growth in exports to the United States. Last year, China signed an agreement to buy 70 Boeing aircraft, with a value of nearly $4 billion and a total contract value of nearly $9.5 billion, including telecommunications products, complete vehicles and parts, mechanical and electrical equipment imported from the United States. China is also the largest importer of soybeans and cotton in the United States.
What are the reasons for the different tax structures? Tax structure refers to the distribution of various taxes that constitute the social tax system in production and the proportional relationship between them. There are generally four types of tax structure in the world today: tax structure mode with general goods and services as the main body, tax structure mode with income tax as the main body, tax structure mode with goods and services tax and income tax as the double main body, and tax structure mode of tax havens. Due to the constraints of politics, economy, culture, resource possession, fiscal expenditure structure, tax policy objectives, tax collection and management ability and many other factors, the tax structure of different countries is quite different.
Reasons for the differences between Chinese and American time views (urgency, online, etc.). The concept of time is a very important part of nonverbal communication. Different cultures have different attitudes towards time, which represent two different cultural atmospheres and come from different traditions. China culture and American culture based on different philosophical foundations are particularly obvious in this respect. This paper mainly compares it from three aspects: 1) different time orientation, past orientation and future orientation; 2) cycle time and linear time; 3) Multi-time system and single-time system. Through comparison, we can not only find out the reasons for this difference, but also find a solution to the problem, thus promoting better exchanges between the two peoples.
The reasons for cultural differences can also be understood as the differences between Chinese mainland culture and western marine culture:
Mainland culture refers to the culture with the mainland as the background.
Marine culture refers to the culture with the ocean as the background.
This different background, including regional landform, climate and meteorology, natural ecology, local customs, history and culture, has formed significant differences.
Main differences: mainland culture is agricultural culture, while marine culture is commercial culture.
They represent two different stages and levels of the development of human civilization. Earlier, human beings could only engage in production and life on land; With the improvement of productivity, mankind began to move from land to sea, which made land and land connected and promoted the development of navigation and commodity trade.
Mainland culture _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The mainland culture is narrow and closed because of the barrier of mountains and rivers, and the concept of frontier defense and heredity is formed because of the private ownership of land, and the hierarchical system is formed because of the size of the land and the height of the mountains.
Land stability, agricultural society requires stability and favorable weather; The code name of the feudal regime was "Jiangshan", even if it was said that "the four seas were home", it was also home to the four seas. Traditionally, the so-called "Liuhe" and "Sifang" generally did not include the ocean. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the "sea ban" policy was implemented, and coastal areas were also excluded. Relocation, happiness in poverty and farewell to homesickness are the background of mainland culture: closed, conservative, hidebound, seeking stability and peace, and fearing social changes.
The so-called "the sky will not change, the road will not change", although the mainland culture is peaceful, heavy, elegant and exquisite, its limitations are obvious.
Marine culture _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The vastness of marine culture shows an atmosphere and an open attitude (Li Bai's poem: "The sea is not full of eyes, and it is not satisfactory to see its way." ); Because the ocean can't be privately owned, it forms the concept of equality and strengthens interpersonal relationships ("in the same boat" and "in the same boat").
The ocean is the spiritual home of human beings, and the wind and waves can stimulate people's imagination and fantasy. Dangerous storms can also cultivate people's adventurous spirit and make sailing a career for the brave. The ocean is fluid, changeable, tolerant and has great freedom (Pushkin's poem: "The ocean is an element of freedom." ), less narrow and conservative thoughts. The ocean is positive, enterprising and romantic, with broad imagination and association space, which has opened up people's spiritual world. These constitute the basic characteristics of marine culture, such as atmosphere, tenacity, wit, enthusiasm, romance, vitality, imagination and creativity, and also construct the psychological qualities of seaside people, such as boldness, broadmindedness, flexibility and easy acceptance of new things and new ideas. As a commercial culture, marine culture is a kind of urban culture and citizen culture, which embodies the latest development achievements of human culture and has a distinctive symbol of the times. Its extension covers contemporary scientific and technological inventions, commercial circulation and social progress; Its connotation includes modern democratic idea, civilian consciousness and free thought, which fundamentally improves people's cultural quality and spiritual realm.
It is not only regional and national, but also epochal and cosmopolitan, which marks the direction of contemporary advanced culture.
In addition, cultural differences can also start with food culture, because "food is the most important thing for the people" can reflect the differences in living habits and cultural thinking of different ethnic groups. There are three major cuisines in the world: China, French and Italian. Let's look at the most basic differences between these cuisines. In terms of diet, China people attach great importance to form and "color, aroma and taste", so in China cooking, the styles of dishes are ever-changing, and each dish pays great attention to the collocation of color, aroma and taste. Europeans, on the other hand, are very practical. They never try to change the color of their dishes. They pay more attention to their own nutrition collocation and protection, and pay attention to the internal quality of dishes. This is the main difference between Chinese food and western food. People in China eat a lot of food every time, but they are all thin. Westerners eat very little food at a time, but they are all more familiar than China.
Let's look at the difference between tableware: knives, forks and chopsticks not only bring about differences in eating habits, but also affect the concept of life of eastern and western people. Knife and fork will inevitably lead to the sharing system, and chopsticks will definitely sit around the table with family members to eat together. The west divided itself into two from the beginning, which led to the idea and habit that westerners pay attention to independence and children will enter the world independently when they grow up. The dining system brought by chopsticks highlights the family unit where the old and the young sit together, thus giving orientals a relatively strong family concept.
Different colors represent completely different meanings in different countries and nations, and the preference for different colors can reflect the aesthetic taste and likes and dislikes of a nation or country as a whole. In the cultural background of China, red represents luck, wealth, auspiciousness and happiness, while in the western concept, red is the color of blood, which means impulsiveness, provocation and turbulence. We saw the Spanish matador challenging the bull with a red cloth. Red can irritate the bullfight. Therefore, China people like to wear red clothes on festive occasions, while westerners generally choose blue because they think blue represents calmness and composure.
The difference of thinking mode is that China people think more abstractly, while westerners think more concretely.
The difference in attitude towards life lies in that China people pay more attention to spiritual feelings, while westerners pay attention to practicality.
In painting and sculpture, Chinese painting is freehand, while western oil painting pays attention to the proportion of human body and optical principles. For example, in order to show that fairies can fly, people in China add a few white clouds at their feet to show the artistic conception of flying. Westerners cannot understand our abstract artistic expression. In western classic religious paintings, in order to show angels flying, we have to add a pair of wings to those lovely elves. Because they only think wings can fly. In sculpture, China people pay more attention to imagination and artistic conception. For example, a monkey crouches on a horse's back, and the ratio of the two is almost the same, but it shows an artistic conception: immediately seal the Hou. Western sculpture works emphasize realism and delicacy, and will never produce such disproportionate works of art.
There are many reasons for the trade gap between China and America. Mainly includes:
China has a comparative advantage in traditional labor-intensive industries such as clothing, textiles, footwear, plastic products, luggage and so on, and exports to the United States in large quantities. In fact, the added value of these products is extremely low, and the basic income is some labor costs.
In fact, the United States has many advanced technologies and equipment that China needs to import, but the United States itself is neurotic. This refused to sell to us, and that restricted exports on the grounds of sensitive technology and fear of switching from civilian to military. After that, of course, the trade deficit came out. Who is to blame?
Therefore, we have to import other people's Boeing planes all day. A plane topped our 200 million shirts!