At present, the main problems in the field of income distribution are: first, the increase of farmers' income has declined, and the income gap between urban and rural areas has widened; Second, the income of laid-off workers is low, and the income gap between different classes of urban residents is widening; Third, the income of some industries is too high by virtue of monopoly advantage, and the income gap between industries is widening; Fourth, the income in the eastern region is higher than that in the central region, and the regional income gap has widened. The basic factors that lead to the widening income gap among different groups are undoubtedly the reform of distribution system and distribution mode. With the reform entering the critical stage and the deepening of economic marketization, the income gap, especially the initial distribution gap, is inevitable, which is also conducive to the improvement of economic efficiency in general. The problem is that the current excessive income gap is not entirely the result of reasonable institutional arrangements, and there are many unreasonable and even illegal factors.
First, there are many unfair competitions in the initial distribution process, the most prominent of which is various forms of monopoly. Second, the means and functions of income redistribution are seriously inadequate. First of all, it is ineffective in regulating high income and lacks basic income monitoring ability; Secondly, there is a lack of effective protection for low-income groups. Third, the problem of illegal income such as gray income, black income and corruption is outstanding. Although the problem of illegal income such as corruption does not strictly belong to the category of income distribution, it does create a group of rich people through illegal income and directly or indirectly affects the social distribution process in many ways.
Generally speaking, the consumption demand of the rich is not high, and those with high consumption demand have no money, so the income gap has indeed widened and there is unfair distribution. China's Gini coefficient, calculated according to international practice, is 0.39, which is close to the internationally recognized warning line level and has not reached the point of "polarization". "Polarization" belongs to class category and reflects class differences. The current situation in China is only the gap between the rich and the poor, which is a social category problem, and its essence is the relationship between workers getting rich first and getting rich later. This relationship between getting rich first and getting rich later is not the result of class opposition, but economic factors, that is, the level of productivity, which plays a decisive role.
The essence of socialism is to liberate and develop productive forces, eliminate exploitation and "polarization" and realize the common prosperity of all people. In the primary stage of socialism, the main task is to mobilize all forces to actively develop productive forces, enhance socialist economic strength and create extremely rich material wealth. The income distribution gap generated in this process cannot be simply called "polarization", nor can it be simply considered that it is not good to expand the income distribution gap, but it is good to narrow it.
In fact, a reasonable, legal and moderate income gap will not cause "polarization", on the contrary, it is conducive to promoting the realization of the goal of * * * and prosperity. Therefore, the widening income gap in China at present is not equal to "polarization". It is based on the general improvement of the overall income level of residents, the difference between getting rich first and getting rich later under the same goal, the objective law of social and economic development, and the inevitable product of breaking the egalitarian distribution mode and developing the socialist market economy. Of course, while affirming the positive significance of reasonable, legal and moderate income gap, we should also be highly alert to the negative impact of unreasonable, illegal income and income gap.
Second, the impact of income distribution gap on social and economic development
"Distribution is not only a negative product of production and exchange, but also affects production and exchange in turn." The current objective situation of income distribution gap will inevitably have an impact on the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, with both positive and negative aspects. At present, its negative effects deserve more attention.
1, the moderate positive impact of income distribution gap. Income distribution gap, as the embodiment of interest relationship adjustment brought by reform, is mostly the early promoter and practitioner of reform. The existence of income distribution gap is the most direct and powerful interest incentive for people to pursue institutional reform. The income distribution gap formed by the distribution of factors in the market according to their contributions, the differences of decision-making of factor owners and the rationality of factor allocation is an effective incentive mechanism for the rational allocation of resources in the market. The moderate expansion of income distribution gap leads to the accumulation of financial assets in the hands of a few people, accelerates the expansion of residents' financial assets, improves residents' direct investment ability, objectively creates conditions for the development of non-public economy and irregular departments, and is conducive to broadening social employment channels; The multi-level purchasing power and multi-level consumption demand structure formed by moderate income gap will promote market demand to guide enterprises' production and investment, promote the upgrading and optimization of industrial structure, and help improve the speed and quality of economic growth.
2. The negative impact of excessive income distribution gap. Mainly manifested in the negative impact of economic development on the social environment and the demand and investment in the "troika" as the driving force of economic development. Under the condition of a certain national income, the higher the income level of residents, the lower the marginal propensity to consume. Because high-income people who have the ability to pay do not need to continue to expand consumption, while low-income people who need to spend do not have the ability to pay. Moreover, the disharmony between total social demand and production supply often lags behind social production, while the adjustment of investment and production supply lags behind, making the contradiction between demand and supply more prominent. At present, the proportion of middle-income people is too low, which leads to insufficient consumer demand of social subjects; The potential consumption demand of low-income people, who account for the majority of social members, cannot be transformed into effective demand with the ability to pay because of the low absolute income level; Although the income of high-income earners is higher, the proportion is smaller and the total demand is limited. In this way, the shortage of effective social demand and demand gap will inevitably lead to the relative surplus of industrial production and the idleness and waste of factor resources in maturity. The defect of demand structure and the shortage of effective demand make it impossible to upgrade the consumption structure and industrial structure. The upgrading of consumption structure is the main driving force for the upgrading of industrial structure. Different levels of industrial structure determine different economic development capabilities. The higher the level of industrial structure, the stronger the ability of economic development. At present, the consumption demand of high-income people is weak, and the consumption demand of low-income people is insufficient, which accounts for a large proportion of low-income people's consumption demand, which leads to the fault of consumption structure and the natural obstruction of industrial structure upgrading, which is not conducive to rapid economic development.
Third, the countermeasures and suggestions to control the income distribution gap
Building a well-off society in an all-round way is a long-term historical process to achieve comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable social and economic development and gradually achieve common prosperity with * * *. Rapid economic development is only a way to achieve prosperity with * * *, not the ultimate goal. At present, the income distribution gap is too large in the short term, which not only affects the rapid development of social economy, but also restricts the improvement of the material and spiritual living standards of low-income people who account for a large proportion of social members and hinders the process of building a well-off society in an all-round way. Therefore, adjusting the income distribution gap is one of the important contents of building a well-off society in an all-round way.
1. Improve the factor distribution system of fair competition. Factor distribution is the general basis of income distribution gap, and the expansion of income distribution gap is also realized through factor distribution. Therefore, it is the primary task to improve the factor distribution system and ensure the rationality and fairness of the initial distribution. The most important thing is the fairness of distribution conditions and the fairness of distribution process. The fairness of distribution conditions is mainly the rationality of factor owners' possession of factors and the fairness of factor distribution among different individuals. The fairness of distribution process mainly depends on the perfection of market environment, that is, it can ensure the independence of factor owners, the freedom of factor flow and the objectivity of factor market pricing. Adjusting the income distribution gap is not only a temporary solution, but also a permanent solution. On the premise of ensuring the fairness of the distribution process, it is more important to ensure the fairness of the distribution conditions. Because "the distribution of any kind of consumption materials is only the result of the distribution of production conditions themselves", the adjustment of the distribution of production conditions themselves is not only to control and adjust the initial possession of non-labor factors, but also to ensure the basic needs of low-income people for survival and development, so that they have equal opportunities for human capital development.
2. Implement the rebalancing strategy of institutional change. Just as the inertia effect of the generation and expansion of the income distribution gap stems from the initial dynamic unbalanced reform, the adjustment of the income distribution gap cannot be static "cutting the high to make up the low" or simply "helping the poor with the rich", but must be adjusted in the dynamic economic development. In the process of deepening system reform, the strategy of unbalanced reform, especially the leaping development of system innovation in backward areas, will make their economy and income grow at a faster speed, which is the institutional premise for effectively adjusting the income distribution gap and the guarantee for the final balance of economic development. On the basis of intensifying the reform in backward areas, the unbalanced reform in backward areas will be implemented again, so that the income of some low-income people will increase rapidly and expand upward to middle-income groups. We will continue to implement rebalancing reform in developed areas, raise the level of middle income, create new high-income classes, and expand downward to middle-income groups.
3. Eliminate the disorderly factors of institutional change. The expansion of the income distribution gap caused by the disorderly factors of institutional change accounts for a large proportion in the composition of the gap, which is often hidden and difficult to evaluate. However, a considerable proportion of high-income people get abnormal income in the disorderly factors of institutional change, which is easy to cause the increase of social instability factors. Therefore, this must be dealt with as soon as possible, so that the income of the "rich" who get abnormal income can return to normal and expand to the ranks of middle-income people. Since the disorderly factors of institutional change are produced in the process of building a new institutional equilibrium, the fundamental way is to speed up the process of institutional change, cancel the old system that is not suitable for the development of the new economy as soon as possible, and gradually improve the new system that is suitable for the market economy.
4. Strengthen the policy adjustment in the process of redistribution. Social redistribution is the last means to adjust the income distribution gap and the fastest effective means. Although the adjustment of distribution conditions of initial distribution is the fundamental way to adjust the income distribution gap, the process is relatively long. The initial distribution with the primary goal of "paying attention to efficiency" will inevitably lead to a considerable income distribution gap in the short term, and the excessive income distribution gap must still be adjusted through the redistribution process. At the same time, the redistribution process is also an important means to adjust the distribution conditions of the initial distribution. Therefore, we should give full play to the policy adjustment function of the redistribution process. On the one hand, it regulates the excessive income distribution gap through taxation, on the other hand, it subsidizes low-income groups and regions through government financial transfer payments and social security, and regulates the distribution condition gap of income distribution.