Society

Professor scolds ministries' big spending on houses

By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-04-01 14:07

Budget reports issued by four central government ministries earlier this week revealed that a large sum of taxpayers' money is used for Chinese officials' housing subsidies, a spending that is likely to further incur public anger fomented by the country's skyrocketing real estate prices, said a finance professor, the Beijing News reported Thursday.

The Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) has assigned in its 2010 budget 136 million yuan ($19.9 million) for the housing subsides, which would assist its officials in rental payments or property purchases. The expenditure alone accounts for 4% for its annual budget.

"Beijing's housing price is high, while taxpayers are called up to shoulder the public officials' burden on this spending," said Ye Qing, a finance and taxation professor with Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in central China's Wuhan.

"People won't be happy if they see this," he added. The professor also serves as deputy chief at Wuhan Municipal Statistic Bureau since 2003 and is a deputy to the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

Three other ministries that have revealed their budget reports this year are the Ministry of Finance, allocating 60 million yuan, 2.5 percent of its total, for the same purpose; the Ministry of Housing and Urban-rural Development, 26 million yuan, 3 percent of its total; and the Ministry of Science and Technology, 24 million yuan, less than 0.13 percent of its budget.

The budget reports, posted on ministries' websites earlier this week, are an unprecedented step forward in political transparency that aims to unveil to the public how taxpayers' money is spent among all ministries and agencies within three years.

However, professor Ye said the budget reports are "not detailed enough", especially on specific expenditure inventories. While MLR director Lai Wensheng admitted to Xinhua that "this is a just first step and there is a long way to go."