It is necessary to spend every penny on the blade of ensuring and improving the people's livelihood, open up sources and reduce expenditure at the same time, optimize the structure of fiscal expenditure, and pay attention to the performance of the use of funds. It is also necessary to promote relevant reforms to achieve a more reasonable allocation of rights and responsibilities, a more standardized division of income, a relatively balanced distribution of financial resources, and a more effective grassroots guarantee.
The "three guarantees" at the grassroots level have always received great attention, and the use of funds is a key issue. Recently, a management method involving hundreds of billions of yuan of funds per year has been revised and released, and "ensuring the basic people's livelihood" has been placed in the first place of the "three guarantees" at the grassroots level, and the capital expenditure is inclined to the field of people's livelihood, highlighting the policy orientation of "people's livelihood first".
This fund, which is related to the livelihood of the people, is the award and subsidy fund of the basic financial guarantee mechanism at the county level. **The financial department continued to increase capital investment, and the reward and subsidy fund of the county-level basic financial guarantee mechanism increased from 2462 in 20187.9 billion yuan increased to 410.7 billion yuan in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 108%。This fund is used to encourage and guide local governments to ensure the necessary expenditure needs such as the "three guarantees" at the grassroots level, reward the local governments to improve the balance of financial resources at the county level, and build a solid bottom line for the "three guarantees" at the grassroots level.
The Ministry of Finance's newly revised "Measures for the Management of Reward and Subsidy Funds for the Basic Financial Guarantee Mechanism at the County Level of Finance" makes it clear that the introduction of the measures is to enhance the ability of the grassroots to "ensure the basic livelihood of the people, ensure wages, and ensure operation", and ensure the basic financial needs of the grassroots to implement public management, provide basic public services and implement various basic livelihood policies. One change here is noteworthy, that is, the order of the original management measures of "ensuring wages, ensuring operation, and ensuring basic people's livelihood" has been adjusted, highlighting "ensuring basic people's livelihood" and putting it in the first place.
There is no trivial matter in people's livelihood, and the branches and leaves are always related. China continues to protect and improve people's livelihood, and the people's sense of gain, happiness and security has been continuously enhanced. Protecting and improving people's livelihood is a long-term task, with no end in sight, only a continuous new starting point. Especially in recent years, under the influence of factors such as the increasing downward pressure on the economy and the frequent outbreaks of the epidemic, the growth rate of grassroots fiscal revenue in some places has slowed down, the rigidity of expenditure has not decreased, and the contradiction between revenue and expenditure is large. In recent years, the relevant documents have put "ensuring the basic livelihood of the people" in the first place in the expression of the "three guarantees", and the newly revised management measures have been reconfirmed and fully reflected in the arrangement of the fund management system, which is worthy of praise.
At present, the economic recovery is facing many difficulties and challenges, and the tasks of basic livelihood work such as employment, education, and medical care are relatively heavy, and the people have many expectations for ensuring and improving people's livelihood. Managing and making good use of financial funds such as the basic financial guarantee mechanism at the county level and the award and subsidy funds is related to the well-being of thousands of households.
Funds are precious and should be used wisely. Although the scale of financial incentives and subsidies is not small, compared with the actual needs of people's livelihood, in fact, there is a lot of financial pressure, and every penny must be used to protect and improve people's livelihood. According to the regulations, the basic livelihood expenditure of the county-level basic financial guarantee mechanism reward and subsidy funds mainly includes the implementation of the policies formulated by the state in the fields of education, social security, health and other fields, focusing on ensuring the livelihood subsidy projects with people or families as the direct subsidy objects, as well as basic public service matters with clear protection scope and standards. Fiscal funds should focus on the pain points of people's livelihood issues, steadily improve the quality and level of basic public service supply, and firmly consolidate the bottom line of basic people's livelihood.
It is also necessary to reduce expenditure when opening up sources, and insist that party and government organs live a tight life. It is necessary to optimize the structure of fiscal expenditures, persist in running all undertakings diligently and thriftily, maintain the true character of arduous struggle, and exchange the "tight days" of party and government organs for the "good days" of the people. The revised administrative measures stipulate that deductions will be made for areas that do not actually increase the number of financial dependents in violation of local conditions or have major mistakes in financial management. Only by standardizing budget preparation, strengthening implementation and management, and simultaneously increasing revenue and reducing expenditure, can we better guarantee people's livelihood expenditure.
In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the performance of the use of funds. People's livelihood funds cannot be used for face-saving projects, and they must not be "paid lip service but not realized", but must really benefit the people. It is necessary to fully implement performance management, strengthen the whole process, the whole chain and all-round supervision of funds, and ensure that the money is spent to be effective and ineffective to be accountable.
In the long run, it is necessary to promote the reform of the division of fiscal powers and expenditure responsibilities between the first and local governments, as well as the reform of the financial system below the provincial level, so as to achieve a more reasonable allocation of powers and responsibilities, a more standardized division of income, a relatively balanced distribution of financial resources, and a more powerful grassroots guarantee.
Governing the country is permanent, and benefiting the people is the foundation. Various policies and funds should focus on the goals of "educating the young, learning and teaching, earning from labor, providing medical treatment for the sick, providing support for the elderly, housing for the elderly, and supporting the weak", so as to ensure and improve people's livelihood in the process of development, and the people's sense of gain, happiness, and security will become stronger and stronger. (This article**: Economy** Author: Zeng Jinhua).