Migrant workers deserve their rights

Migrant workers should be given their due social status as industrial labourers, says an article in Oriental Morning Post. An excerpt follows:

During Spring Festival, a number of migrant workers received greetings and gifts from local trade unions in Shanghai.

It is said to be the first time that migrant workers were included in such programmes in the past years.

Such a move reflects the changes of our policies.

Earlier this year, the State Council passed an unprecedented paper on the issue of migrant workers. It highly values the work of migrant workers and recognizes the social status of these individuals. The central government is looking for a breakthrough in solving the issues concerning migrant workers.

Migrant workers have entered urban industrial and commercial enterprises with their status as farmers for decades.

Institutional reform has caused disconnection between their real industrial status as workers and their social status as farmers. The increasingly serious problems surrounding migrant workers are directly or indirectly connected with their social identification.

The entrance of migrant workers into industrial and commercial enterprises is the result of China's reform. Migrant workers are playing an irreplaceable role in the country's economic development and social functioning. But members of this group are facing a series of problems in their own lives, such as payment default, poor working conditions, and difficulties in educating their children, labour insurance and basic social security.

Their basic social rights are often infringed, which also threatens the overall social economic development in this country.

It is a strategic issue for the country to solve problems concerning migrant workers. Protecting migrant workers' rights and giving them due status should be an important index to measure social harmony.

The central government should take actions in guidance to grant migrant workers their due status as soon as possible.

Preferential tax

for charity

Institutional and legal construction are vital to foster the spirit of giving in China, says an article in Legal Daily. An excerpt follows:

The central government has promised to provide policies that encourage charitable donations and guide more non-government funds into social welfare this year.

It is a universal practice to depend on non-government donations to supplement government welfare. Western countries often use public trust to promote social relief. Tax cuts or waiver on the trust capitals and incomes is basic for implementing the public trust system.

But there is no such rule for tax preference in  China's Trust Law, which was put into use in 2001. And there has not been any real public trust in this country.

There are foundations operating here but there is only one piece of guiding principle about tax preference in the management regulation.

A revised Personal Income Tax Law adopted last year does not include clauses that encourage high-income earners to give  charitable donations. Public donations and investment should be deducted before taxation to encourage giving.

China does not have a shortage of rich people. It is estimated that there are over 240,000 individuals whose personal wealth exceeds 10 million yuan (US$1.24 million).

But the charitable donation level is still rather low here. The lack of inheritance tax in China is another reason. As a type of tax to adjust the distribution of wealth among social members, inheritance tax has played a positive role in many countries.

To adopt the inheritance tax and, at the same time, give tax preference on charitable donations, will promote the development of public welfare in our society.

China's middle class is on the rise. Only by establishing a sound tax law can we guide social organizations and individuals to give more donations.