EXPENSIVE LIQUOR: A woman buys liquor in a Carrefour outlet in Hefei, Anhui Province. The Chinese Government reworks the alcohol taxation policy on August 1 (GUO CHEN)

Fighting Discrimination

Cui Fuqiang, Director of the Office of Viral Hepatitis at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in late July that the Ministry of Health would no longer test for Hepatitis B in conventional medical examinations. However, Deng Haihua, a spokesman for the ministry, immediately clarified this did not represent an official statement, but was just an expert opinion.

Some 100 million people are infected with Hepatitis B in China, and there is widespread discrimination against them. People carrying the virus find it very hard to enter kindergarten, school, or get a job.

Fighting against discrimination on Hepatitis B is difficult for many reasons.

For example, the current cost to employers who break the related law is a fine of only 1,000 yuan ($146), and many medical centers prefer cooperating with employers in exchange for financial rewards, rather than implementing governmental policies.

In order to eliminate discrimination against carriers of Hepatitis B, the government should aim to further medical literacy and promote anti-discrimination policies, such as formulating and implementing laws and regulations that protect Hepatitis B patients, while pursuing more public control.

We hope for such action in the near future.

Chongqing Times

Changes in Taxation

A change in the consumption tax on liquor officially took effect on August 1, and some of the high-end liquor brands have already undergone a price hike. In Guangzhou, southern Guangdong Province, prices of many liquor brands increased by 6 to 9 percent. In Beijing, retailers also received notices from renowned liquor producers, such as Moutai and Jiannanchun, to raise prices.

Though the levy of a consumption tax on liquor is targeting producers, it has not put much burden on these enterprises, since they can easily pass the cost to consumers by raising their prices. Some of the companies even raised their prices markedly before the tax levy to ensure more profits. This goes against the original intention of taxation authorities.

Some tax policies need adjustment, but any new consumption tax or change in the existing tax rate should not bring about only one result—increasing burden on consumers. It's the responsibility of the government departments concerned to evaluate whether a tax policy can regulate consumption without adding burdens on the consumers.

Guangzhou Daily

Official Accountability Needs Reform

On July 30, more than 1,000 villagers from Zhentou Township in Liuyang City, central China's Hunan Province, gathered at the local government building and police station to protest pollution problems. On August 1, the legal representative of the polluting plant involved was detained and two leading officials of the Liuyang Environmental Protection Bureau were suspended from their posts pending further investigation.

Similar incidents are happening more often these days. But the existing accountability system is not an effective way to solve these problems—and its "passiveness" may even lead to serious consequences.

It may suggest to the public that the normal procedure of protecting their rights by taking legal action is futile, and not draw any attention from the government. Instead, only by resorting to mass protests can people exert pressure upon the local government, and then have their demands answered. But if the government remains slow in reacting to all protestors' demands, mass incidents could happen more frequently—with greater threats to social stability.

It may also leave local officials feeling that if their misconduct didn't result in mass protests, they would not be held accountable. This may lead them to resort to coercion—and even violence—to prevent people from protesting.

This could even lead to a vicious circle, whereby officials coerce people into silence, and more mass incidents of unrest will happen.

To avoid this pattern from happening, a more rigid accountability system is needed, and it should never be focused on mass protests.

Zhujiang Evening News

Unreasonable Charges

Recently, some transportation experts suggested Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong Province, introduce congestion charges to curb growing traffic demand.

Are the charges reasonable? As we know, a citizen pays taxes to the government in order to "purchase" public products that the market or individuals cannot supply, such as transportation and education services.

Thus, when car owners pay various kinds of taxes from a purchase tax to a fuel tax to "purchasing" the right to use roads and other transportation facilities, the government has the responsibility to provide sound and free services. To charge money on public products should be the last resort of the government after making other efforts.

In cities with the worst traffic problems, such as New York and Tokyo, their governments don't charge citizens, but instead developed the public transit system as much as possible.

Good solutions to a public concern should be both technically feasible and consistent with interests of the majority of people.

The Beijing News