Government input to improve people's livelihood should increase with rising fiscal revenue, says an article in Oriental Morning Post. The following is an excerpt:

According to the Ministry of Finance, State revenue grew 30.6 percent year on year to 2.6 trillion yuan (US$344 billion) in the first half of 2007. State expenditure was 1.8 trillion yuan for the period, representing a 22.7 percent rise from the same period last year.

It is estimated the revenue figure might reach 5 trillion yuan for the year, against a budget of 4.65 trillion, which means there will be a big surplus. If the opportunity were seized, there would probably be a new turning point for China's development.

The government has said it will speedup the construction of an urban residents' medical insurance system and a rural minimum living subsidy system, which are examples of its human-centered administrative orientation. Currently, the problem is that insufficient funds have led to insufficient input in public products and services.

For example, a social security system covering all has not been constructed, and the government input to education accounts only for about 3 percent of GDP.

Therefore, when the nation's fiscal revenue has a big surplus, the government should increase input to public products and services, especially education, social security system and the infrastructure construction of rural areas.

The people's congresses at all levels should lead the establishment of a checks and balances system with budget at its core. That is the way to regulate the use of public money.

(China Daily July 27, 2007)