Beijing will collect no more administration fees and government
charges from its farmers during the 10th Five-year Plan (2001-05)
period, according to a meeting held days ago on alleviating the
financial burden of farmers.
Beijing published charges imposed on farmers from the end of last
year. Up to now, most towns and villages set up bulletin boards to
display fees collected from farmers. The idea was to help farmers
gain a clearer understanding of the fees they paid. The capital
city distributed Supervision Cards for the Burden of Farmer to its
900,000 farmers, which listed items, standards and levy measures
charged to them.
The city abolished 49 items from its list of charges to lighten the
financial burden of farmers in recent years. The annual amount of
fees reduced totaled 200 million yuan (about US$24 million).
At
present, the fees levied by town and village administrations
account for only 1 percent of a farmer's income, significantly
lower than the national standard of 5 percent.
(china.org.cn by Feng Yikun, October 19, 2002)