Revenues from fines and confiscations refer to the revenues from fines, confiscated receipts, stolen money, confiscated materials, and the sale of stolen goods collected by administrative law enforcement organs in accordance with the law, and are an integral part of local fiscal revenues. Recently, 16 provinces announced the revenue from fines and confiscations in 2023 and the forecast for 2024, showing different increases and decreases and proportions. Among them, Guangdong has the highest revenue from fines and confiscations, reaching 338400 million yuan, 27 times that of Ningxia; Tianjin's revenue from fines and confiscations fell the most, down 56 percent year-on-year9%；Chongqing's revenue from fines and forfeitures grew the fastest, increasing by 22 percent year-on-year4%。What is the problem behind these figures? What does it lead to thinking?
Controversy Project
On the one hand, the large fluctuations in the revenue from fines and confiscations reflect the instability and pressure of local fiscal revenues. Due to the impact of multiple factors such as the epidemic, economy, and foreign trade, in recent years, the growth of local fiscal revenue has slowed down or even experienced negative growth, while rigid expenditures such as people's livelihood and debt have been increasing, resulting in an aggravation of the contradiction between local fiscal revenue and expenditure. Under such circumstances, the revenues from fines and confiscations have become an important supplement to the fiscal revenues of some localities, and there have even been such chaotic phenomena as "increasing revenue with fines" and "enforcing the law for profit," which have harmed the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises and the masses and affected the stable development of the economy and society. Therefore, the "Guiding Opinions on Further Regulating and Supervising the Setting and Implementation of Fines" has recently been promulgated, which comprehensively regulates administrative fines from three aspects: scientifically setting fines in accordance with the law, strictly regulating the implementation of fines, and comprehensively strengthening the supervision of fines, aiming to prevent local "random fines", "fines in escrow" and "profit-seeking fines" and other behaviors, promote the legalization, institutionalization and standardization of supervision during and after the event, and maintain fair and just market order and social order.
On the other hand, the fluctuation of fines and confiscation revenues also reflects the irregularities and differences in local law enforcement. Due to the large number of local law enforcement agencies, the wide range of law enforcement fields, the different law enforcement standards, the uneven law enforcement efforts, and the unclear law enforcement effect, the fluctuation and discrepancy of local fines and confiscation revenues have led to different degrees. For example, the increase or decline in the revenue from fines and confiscations in some places is mainly affected by the one-time major cases or the revenue from fines and confiscations such as land reclamation, rather than reflecting the normalization and standardization of law enforcement. For example, the increase or decline in the revenue from fines and confiscations in some localities is mainly affected by the intensity and efficiency of law enforcement by the public security, transportation, market supervision and other departments, rather than reflecting the coordination and rationality of law enforcement. For example, the increase or decline in the revenue from fines and confiscations in some localities is mainly affected by the conclusion of cases and the surrender of cases by courts, procuratorates, and other judicial organs, rather than reflecting the fairness and transparency of law enforcement. Therefore, local law enforcement organs should strengthen their own construction, improve their law enforcement capacity and level, persist in law enforcement in accordance with the law, civilized law enforcement, fair law enforcement, and effective law enforcement, and achieve a reasonable and stable income from fines and confiscations.
To sum up, the big ups and downs of the revenue from fines and confiscations is a phenomenon worthy of attention and study, and it is also an issue that needs to be improved and perfected. We should conduct an in-depth analysis and scientific assessment of the revenue from fines and confiscations from multiple angles, at multiple levels, and from multiple aspects, find out the laws and characteristics, discover the problems and causes, and put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions, so as to realize the rationalization, standardization, and transparency of the revenues from fines and confiscations, and provide strong support and guarantee for the steady growth of local fiscal revenues and the healthy development of the local economy and society.