On November 27^th, Dr. Ehtisham Ahmad, Visiting Senior Fellow with the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre and University of Bonn, and Prof. Niu Meili with School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University, visited CUEB. They delivered lectures on local taxation and risk management and held a discussion with teachers from CUEB School of Public Finance and Taxation.

Starting from China’s tax sharing reform in 1994, Ehtisham Ahmad recounted how he engaged in the reform when working in IMF. He also shared ideas on fiscal relations between Chinese governments and local fiscal risk control.

Ehtisham Ahmad has participated in reforms of government finance and taxation worldwide. Based on his experience, especially lessons from reforms in Mexico and India, he made an in-depth analysis about China’s tax sharing reforms. He also expressed views on property tax reforms in Shanghai and Chongqing according to his study on property tax systems in the US. He then offered suggestions as follows for resolving problems in local taxation and controlling local financial risks in China. First, grant local governments some autonomy and ensure local tax revenues to curb local financial risks; second, work to achieve a more thorough and refined tax reform; third, match taxation reforms with budget reforms. He stressed that individual income tax reforms are of great essentiality in China and that additional taxes levied by local governments should be added.

Teachers and students present in the lecture hold lively talks with Dr.Ehtisham Ahmad and Prof. Niu on the distribution of tax revenues shared by central and local governments, the future choice of local major taxes, the orientation of individual income taxes, etc. Prof. Niu interpreted throughout the lecture and made an impressive review.

Li Hongxia presided over the discussion in the afternoon. Dr. Ehtisham Ahmad, Prof. Niu and teachers from CUEB School of Public Finance and Taxation had deep-going exchanges on hot issues in China’s public finance and taxation. Dr. Ehtisham Ahmad and Prof. Niu introduced their respective fields of study and research achievements in cooperation. They also provided suggestions concerning public finance and taxation, touching on topics including case analyses on policies worldwide, benefit analysis of introducing property taxation from the US to China, individual income taxes, congestion taxes, carbon taxes, property taxes, etc.

In the discussion, Yang Quanshe, Dr. Ehtisham Ahmad and Prof. Niu reached a consensus on further academic collaborations and exchanges. Dr. Ehtisham Ahmad and Prof. Niu sincerely wished CUEB School of Public Finance and Taxation great progress in taxation and budget researches and its success in graduating more excellent professionals.