Uma nota publicada na Bloomberg (China to Vote on Laws That Allow Private Ownership, Unify Taxes), assinada por Zhang Dingmin, nos dá uma clara percepção de que certas idéias, independentemente de onde são aplicadas, hão de produzir seus certos e esperados resultados.

Segundo a nota, o Legislativo chinês estará votando, em março vindouro, uma reforma profunda no sistema chinês, consagrando a propriedade privada.

É a paciente cruzada chinesa que vem migrando cautelosamente desde uma economia centralizada, no melhor estilo burocrático-estatista-socialista, rumo a um ambiente livre e favorável para o desenvolvimento das liberdades individuais, que só o livre mercado pode proporcionar.

“A Lei pode ser a culminância de um largo processo que consumiu 3 décadas na caminhada de uma economia de planejamento centralizado rumo ao capitalismo, isso depois que uma emenda constitucional, do ano 2004, consagrou o princípio da propriedade privada”, diz o artigo.

“Uma propriedade privada claramente definida pode ajudar a agricultura, propiciando a 800 milhões de chineses que vivem na área rural que utilizem o seu direito de propriedade como garantia de empréstimos hipotecários obtidos no sistema financeiro”.

Yao Hong não deu detalhes de como isso poderá ser feito. Mas é fácil perceber que é necessário criar um mecanismo de clarificação, depuração, definição, publicidade e tutela dos direitos de propriedade.

Eureka! Será necessário criar um… cartório de registro de imóveis!

Não será por acaso que uma comitiva chinesa de Shanghai esteve recentemente visitando os registros prediais em São Paulo.

Ainda há quem identifique nos cartórios um obstáculo ao desenvolvimento social e econômico do país! Volto ao assunto. Abaixo, a íntegra da nota.
###

China to Vote on Laws That Allow Private Ownership, Unify Taxes), de
By Zhang Dingmin

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) — China’s legislature will vote next March on a law that gives citizens the right to own property, in the ruling Communist Party’s biggest ideological shakeup since 1978 to acknowledge the growing clout of private ownership.

If passed by the National People’s Congress, the law will define and protect ownership by the government, citizens and private enterprises. The NPC will vote on a second law to tax local companies at the same rate as overseas investors, said the legislature’s spokesman He Shaoren.
“The law will help foster an environment that allows for fair competition in the economy,” said Yao Hong, the spokeswoman of the NPC’s legal committee, at a press conference today in Beijing. “Congress delegates understand that the law is consistent with the Chinese constitution.”

The law would be the culmination of three decades of China’s move from a centrally planned economy toward capitalism, after a 2004 constitutional amendment enshrined the principle of private ownership. Private businesses contributed to an estimated 65 percent of China’s 18.3 trillion yuan ($2.3 trillion) economy last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Clearly defined property rights would also help farmers, giving China’s 800 million rural residents land titles which can be used as collateral on mortgages and bank loans. Yao didn’t elaborate on the extent that the private property law can be used.

“The property bill should be passed as early as possible to clarify private properties in the rural areas,” China Banking Regulatory Commission ‘s Chairman Liu Mingkang said at a Dec. 26 conference in Beijing.

Combined Corporate Tax

Chinese lawmakers want to create a single 25 percent corporate tax cap for local and overseas companies operating in the country, cutting it from the current 33 percent rate.
The government gives tax breaks to companies that operate in special economic zones and high-technology industries, collecting 15 percent of their income in taxes.

“The tax will help companies become more efficient, which will boost tax revenue in the long term, even if it causes short- term receipts to fall,” said the finance ministry’s official Shi Yaobin, at today’s press conference.

The new tax rule, which may come into effect on Jan. 1, 2008, “will not affect foreign companies because there is a five-year grace period,” Shi said today. Overseas companies will still enjoy tax breaks because “the new tax rule will charge a 15 percent rate for high-tech companies,” he said.

Qualified small businesses with low profit margins will pay a 20 percent income tax under the new bill, Shi said.

Sales by foreign companies totaled 7.7 trillion yuan last year, 37.5 percent of that by all companies in the nation, according to state news agency Xinhua. They paid 639 billion yuan in taxes, accounting for 20.7 percent of China’s total 2005 tax revenue, it said.
Communist Ideology

Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who pushed the Chinese economy to abandon Soviet-style central planning for a market- based economy, codified his thoughts in a 1984 speech about the notion of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
When Deng spoke, private businesses contributed 1 percent of China’s gross domestic product. Now, they range from curb-side stalls to multi-billion yuan companies that include the nation’s wealthiest people.

Before 2004, state ownership of property was enshrined in the Chinese constitution as “inviolable” and “sacrosanct.”

Until the ownership right in the constitution is defined by law, the state still has unchallenged power to acquire land for public works, even if farmers had been allowed to lease land since 1979 and urban residents received the same right in 1998.

There have been just four amendments to China’s present constitution, which was adopted in 1982, six years after the death of Mao Zedong.

The third amendment in 1999 enshrined the rule of law. The NPC, which has never defied the government, approves laws to give them the appearance of legitimacy.

To contact the reporter for this story: Zhang Dingmin in Beijing at Dzhang14@bloomberg.net Last Updated: December 29, 2006 05:53 EST