How Should Compensation Fees for Expropriated Rural Farmland Be Distributed to Be Reasonable
Land is the most basic means of production for farmers, and land is also the most fundamental guarantee of survival for farmers; it is the "lifeline" of farmers. With the development of the socialist market economy and the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, a large amount of rural land in our country has been expropriated, giving rise to problems. The problems exist in two aspects: first, to whom the land belongs, and second, by whom the land is used. The key lies in how the output of the land is distributed.
The problems existing in China's rural land system are mainly in four aspects: land property rights are unclear, land use rights have a time limit; land transfer lacks a market mechanism, and there is the problem of the rural population household registration system.
1. Unclear land property rights make distribution difficult
The characteristic of our country's rural land property rights system is that the subject of collective ownership of rural land is not clear, and it is unclear who the "collective" actually is. The "collective" can be at three levels: township, village, and villagers' group, and farmers' land interests are made nominal. The ambiguity of the legal person status of collective land ownership and the plurality of subjects of land property rights inevitably lead to unclear boundaries of responsibility, rights, and interests and to conflicts among different subjects of land ownership, and ultimately collective land ownership cannot be realized. Because the land owner stipulated by law is a fictitious "farmers' collective," it naturally cannot have legal personality, still less can it concretely exercise effective supervision and management over the land, thus in fact causing the nominalization of rural collective land ownership in the judicial sense.
After rural farmland is expropriated, to whom does the land actually belong for the purpose of the expropriation fees? The legal concept is the "collective." It is unclear who the "collective" actually is. The "collective" can be at three levels: township, village, and villagers' group. That is to say, can all three levels - township, village, and villagers' group - participate in distribution? Of course this is not acceptable; only the villagers' group level can participate in distribution. The township and village can only be allocated a small management fee according to a ratio.
And according to what conditions does the villagers' group carry out distribution? This is a very simple question, so distribution is carried out according to population, but this in turn produces a series of questions: is it according to the population under the farmland contract responsibility system at that time? Or according to the current population? Can distribution be carried out? This in turn produces a legal question. That is, the farmland contracted by villagers has a time limit on use rights.
2. Time-limited land use rights make distribution difficult
Article 6 of the 1993 amendment to the Constitution affirmed the important achievement of rural reform, the "household contract responsibility system," in constitutional form, and in 1993 it was clearly proposed that farmers' land contract period be extended by another 30 years without change. Jiang Zemin proposed that after 30 years there would also be no need to change it, while Wen Jiabao said it would never change; not only should the contract period be stabilized, but the contracted plots should also be stabilized, and it was repeatedly emphasized that "when people are added, land is not added; when people are reduced, land is not reduced."
One item in the No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee in 2013 was to stabilize rural land contracting relations. Research should be promptly conducted on the concrete forms of realizing the maintenance of the existing land contracting relations in a stable and permanently unchanged manner, and relevant legal systems should be improved.
If it is according to the 1993 clear proposal that farmers' land contract period be extended by another 30 years without change, there is debate about how to calculate the time. In most rural areas, the improvement of farmers' land contract period by another 30 years without change began in 1996. It will not expire until 2026. If according to the No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee in 2013, the concrete forms of realizing the maintenance of the existing land contracting relations in a stable and permanently unchanged manner and the improvement of relevant legal systems, then by 2026 there will also be no further improvement of farmers' land contract periods.
According to the relevant policies above, for the expropriation fees after rural farmland is expropriated, if based on the term expiring in 2026, then apart from deducting the annual land expropriation abandonment fee of the land contractor, nearly 30 percent of the expropriation fees can be distributed. If according to the No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee in 2013, the land contracting relations are maintained in a stable and permanently unchanged manner, then there is no need to carry out distribution again.
3. The current household registration system problem of the rural population makes distribution difficult
The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China emphasized: accelerate reform of the household registration system, advance in an orderly way the citizenization of the agricultural transferred population, and strive to achieve full coverage of basic public services for the permanent resident population in cities and towns. The No. 1 document of the CPC Central Committee in 2013 emphasized: "advance in an orderly way the citizenization of the agricultural transferred population, take promoting population urbanization, especially the settlement of migrant workers in cities and towns, as an important task of urbanization, accelerate reform of the household registration system, and implement policies relaxing the conditions for settlement in small and medium-sized cities and small towns." This is a very difficult task.
What is the actual situation now? Most of the current rural population consists of "separated people and households." The household registration is in rural areas, while the people are in large, medium, and small cities or market towns. Most of the rural population is no longer willing to become registered residents of large, medium, and small cities or market towns, because with the development of the socialist market economy and the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, a large amount of rural land in our country has been expropriated. They can participate in the distribution of rural land expropriation fees.
As for the rural population's participation in the distribution of rural land expropriation fees, whether it is according to the current actual population or according to the population when the rural land contract responsibility system was originally implemented is also a topic of debate. If according to the term expiring in 2026, then apart from deducting the annual land expropriation abandonment fee of the land contractor, nearly 30 percent of the expropriation fees are to be distributed. Many people believe it should be according to the population when the rural land contract responsibility system was originally implemented. If comprehensive distribution is carried out, then it can be according to the current actual population.
The current distribution of rural land expropriation fees is highly varied. If it is expropriation near cities, then expropriation and demolition have policies to rely on, and resettlement compensation has a series of policy provisions. If it is expropriation for various types of construction land, then distribution is much more varied. Some sign agreements that if the contract responsibility system is implemented again in the future, they will no longer want farmland. Some follow the term expiring in 2026 under the contract responsibility system. Apart from deducting the annual land expropriation abandonment fee of the land contractor, nearly 30 percent of the expropriation fees are to be distributed. (There are also 50-50 distribution and 40-60 distribution.) Some distribute according to the current actual population, and some according to the population when the rural land contract responsibility system was originally implemented.
I personally believe it should be according to the term expiring in 2026 under the contract responsibility system. Apart from deducting the annual land expropriation abandonment fee of the land contractor, nearly 30 percent of the expropriation fees are to be distributed. (There are also 50-50 distribution and 40-60 distribution.) And distribution should be according to the population when the rural land contract responsibility system was originally implemented.
The reasons are as follows. First, by 2026 the rural areas must carry out another adjustment of the responsibility system. Because in recent years 20 percent of the rural population has already moved into cities. This has led to the phenomenon of farmland being abandoned. There are also cases of contracted farmland of households that have died out and of former Five Guarantees households. No one cultivates this land either. Second, the next generation of new-type farmers who farm the land and want to contract farmland must contract an area of between 20 mu and 30 mu in order to keep up economically with the needs of the developing situation. Third, our current urbanization rate of the registered population is 39%, less than 40%, and more than 800 million or even 900 million farmers are still in rural areas. Land is the most basic means of production for farmers, and land is also the most fundamental guarantee of survival for farmers; it is the "lifeline" of farmers. If the agricultural production responsibility system is not adjusted for so many years, some newly added population will have no farmland, and unstable factors will appear in rural areas.