Full text: Report on China's central, local budgets(18)

Fourth, we need to promote economic restructuring and balanced regional development to spur faster transformation of the pattern of economic development. We make full use of the significant role fiscal and tax policies play in economic restructuring, constantly increase government investment, and improve fiscal and tax systems as well as mechanisms that are conducive to transforming the pattern of economic development. We will increase investment in science and technology, optimize the expenditure structure in this area, and support independent innovation and improvements in the core competitiveness of industries. We will push forward energy conservation and emissions reductions, and act more quickly to develop new, renewable, and clean energies. We will establish a sound cap-and-trade policy system for pollution rights. We will extend the policy of subsidizing and rewarding grassland ecological conservation to cover all herding and semi-herding counties designated by the state. We will increase financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises, provide them with tax and fee cuts and exemptions, and encourage them to operate prudently and achieve sustained development. We will vigorously support the development of strategic emerging industries and high-tech industries, promote optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, and stimulate faster development of the modern service industry. We will implement the strategy of using major cultural projects to spur the development of the entire industry. We will put into effect fiscal and tax policies that promote balanced regional development, and enhance the ability of areas with financial difficulties to ensure the implementation of all policies devised to improve people's lives. We will expand trials of key small green cities and towns, and vigorously yet prudently move ahead with urbanization.

Taking all factors into consideration, governments at all levels will concentrate financial resources to accomplish several major tasks aimed at maintaining and improving living standards in 2012. First, we will increase education spending to ensure budgetary expenditure on education nationwide accounts for 4% of GDP. Second, we will accelerate the development of the social security system, and make the new old-age insurance system available to all eligible rural and urban residents. Third, we will deepen reform of the pharmaceutical and healthcare systems, increase government subsidies to the new rural cooperative medical care system and basic medical insurance for non-working urban residents, speed up trial reforms in public hospitals, and make medical services more affordable and accessible. Fourth, we will make steady progress in building low-income housing, begin construction on more than seven million units of housing while completing ongoing projects, and help ease housing difficulties of low-income urban residents, first-time workers, and rural migrant workers. Fifth, we will vigorously promote cultural development and prosperity, and ensure that growth in government spending on cultural development exceeds the regular revenue increase, in order to better satisfy people's cultural needs. Sixth, we will increase policy support to strengthen agriculture, benefit farmers, and make the countryside prosperous; support construction of irrigation and water conservancy facilities and other working and living infrastructure in rural areas; stimulate innovation in agricultural science and technology; and promote increases in agricultural production and farmers' incomes as well as the prosperity of the countryside.