Township Government's Administrative System Innovation of China in the Post-agricultural Tax Era

摘要

China's township government is a basic organization of the national political power, and its activities, daily behaviors and operating mechanism have gone through significant changes after the complete abolition of agricultural tax in 2006. However, the system design and behavior of the township government have not altered in a corresponding way, resulting in a sharper and more complicate situation that the government has to overcome in its actual performance, which calls for the township government system reform. What should the China's township government in the post-agricultural tax era do? This paper considers that we should focus on considering the problem in both theoretical and practical perspectives to find the solutions. From the theoretical perspective, we should manage to identify the strengths and weaknesses of "Cancelling the township government and implementing township government autonomy", "Changing the township government and downgrading to an agency" and "Keeping the township government and conducting adjustment and reform" advocated by the academic circle. From the practical perspective, in terms of setting goals, we should uphold the principle of "Establishing democratic autonomy and stabilizing and harmonizing rural community"; in terms of path choice, we should depend on the principle of "Standardizing the township government function and strengthening public administration and service", "Reasonably distributing township government power and perfecting administrative accountability system" and "Building a new financial budget system and increasing the transfer payment of the higher leader" based on maintaining the township constitutional system. Perhaps such is the crucial way for China's township administrative system innovation.