Full text: Report on China's economic, social development plan(17)

9. We will further deepen reform and opening up.

1) We will provide better integrated guidance and coordination for reform. We will carry out in-depth research on the top-level design and master plan for deepening economic structural reform, and work out an overall plan, road map, and timetable for its implementation. We will issue and implement the guidelines on the priorities in deepening economic structural reform in 2013. We will push forward pilot projects for integrated, complete reforms.

2) We will promote enterprise reforms. We will improve the system for managing all kinds of state-owned assets, encourage more investment of state capital in key industries and areas that are vital to national security and are the lifeblood of the economy, and improve the budget system for state capital operations. We will create an institutional environment to ensure that economic entities under all forms of ownership have equal access to factors of production in accordance with the law, compete on a level playing field and are protected by the law as equals. We will implement and improve policies and measures for promoting the development of the non-public sector, fully streamline items subject to examination and approval for investment projects and review laws and regulations concerning investment management which are not conducive to development of nongovernmental investment, and make new breakthroughs in guiding nongovernmental investment into key areas such as energy, railway and finance.

3) We will carry out price reforms steadily. We will improve the pricing mechanism for refined oil products. We will comprehensively reform natural gas prices. We will organize the implementation of the reform plan to make thermal coal prices more market-based. We will improve the system of progressive pricing for household electricity consumption and the pricing policy for electricity generated from renewable energy sources. We will introduce progressive pricing for household water consumption, impose surcharges on non-household consumption of water exceeding water-use quotas, and try out progressive pricing for household natural gas consumption. We will reform and improve the pricing mechanism for railway transportation.

4) We will deepen reform of the medical and health care systems. We will improve the medical insurance system that covers the whole population. We will fully carry out trials of major disease insurance for rural and urban non-working residents, establish an emergency assistance system for disease treatment, reform the system of medical insurance payouts, and coordinate the development of basic medical insurance in urban and rural areas. We will consolidate and improve the system for basic drugs and the new operating mechanism of medical and health care institutions at the community level. We will steadily implement the pilot project to reform the way general practitioners work and provide services. We will accelerate reform of public hospitals, with the focus on county-level hospitals and for the main purpose of stopping hospitals from using pharmacy profits to subsidize their medical services. We will encourage nongovernmental investment in hospitals.

5) We will accelerate reform of the fiscal, taxation, financial, and investment systems. We will improve the fiscal system for ensuring that the financial resources of the central and local governments are in line with their respective powers. We will carry out the pilot project to replace the imposition of business tax with VAT in more areas and industries. We will adjust the scope of collection and rate structure of the sales tax as appropriate. We will expand the trial reform of the property tax and make resources taxes price-based for more types of resources in due course. We will improve the public finance system that promotes the equal access to basic public services and the development of functional zones. We will steadily promote the reform to make interest rates and the RMB exchange rate more market-based, and extend the use of RMB in cross-border trade settlement. We will work to guide nongovernmental capital into the financial sector, develop small financial institutions oriented toward rural areas and urban communities in line with local conditions, promote financial reform in rural areas, develop equity financing and venture capital, and improve the system of multi-tiered capital markets. We will streamline more items subject to administrative examination and approval and delegate the authority to examine and approve items to lower levels. We will promptly issue the revised list of government-approved investment projects. We will implement and improve the mechanism for assessing risks that major projects may pose to social stability. We will accelerate development of the national credibility system.

6) We will deepen reform of the income distribution system. We will earnestly implement the guidelines on deepening the reform, uphold the distribution system in which distribution according to work is the principal part that coexists with other forms of distribution, and attach equal importance to regulation by primary and secondary distribution. We will continue to improve the primary distribution mechanism in which labor, capital, technology, management, and other factors of production have a rightful share of income in accordance with their respective contribution. We will move faster to improve the mechanism of secondary distribution regulating income distribution mainly through taxation, social security, and transfer payments. We will focus on increasing urban and rural incomes, narrowing income gaps, and ensuring good order in income distribution; strive to increase individual income in step with economic development and work remuneration in step with improvement in labor productivity; and gradually establish a reasonable and orderly pattern of income distribution.