On March 28th, Premier Li Keqiang chaired a State Council executive meeting to determine measures to deepen value-added tax reform and further reduce the tax burden on market entities; Decide to establish a national financing guarantee fund to promote the alleviation of financing difficulties for small and micro enterprises and agriculture, rural areas, and farmers; Listen to the report on the progress of the State Council's institutional reform, ensure that institutional restructuring and functional adjustments are in place on time; Discussion and adoption of the "State Council Work Rules (Revised Draft)".

The meeting pointed out that over the past five years, a cumulative tax reduction of 2.1 trillion yuan has been achieved through the implementation of replacing business tax with value-added tax. According to the deployment of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, in order to further improve the tax system, support the development of the real economy such as manufacturing and small and micro enterprises, and continue to reduce the burden on market entities, the meeting has decided to reduce the value-added tax rate of manufacturing and other industries from 17% to 16% from May 1, 2018, and reduce the value-added tax rate of transportation, construction, basic telecommunications services, and agricultural products from 11% to 10%. It is expected that a tax reduction of 240 billion yuan will be achieved throughout the year. The second is to unify the standards for small-scale value-added tax taxpayers. Raise the annual sales standards for small-scale taxpayers of industrial and commercial enterprises from 500000 yuan and 800000 yuan to 5 million yuan, and allow enterprises that have already been registered as general taxpayers to register as small-scale taxpayers within a certain period of time, allowing more enterprises to enjoy tax incentives calculated at lower rates. The third is to refund the input tax that has not been fully deducted within a certain period of time for enterprises that meet the conditions in advanced manufacturing industries such as equipment manufacturing and modern service industries such as research and development, as well as power grid enterprises. Implementing the above three measures will reduce the tax burden of market entities by over 400 billion yuan throughout the year, benefiting both domestic and foreign enterprises equally.

According to the deployment of the "Government Work Report" on expanding inclusive financial services and better serving the real economy, the meeting has decided to establish a national financing guarantee fund initiated by the central government and jointly with willing financial institutions. The initial fundraising shall not be less than 60 billion yuan, and various provinces (districts, cities) shall be supported to carry out financing guarantee business through equity investment, re guarantee, and other forms, driving all parties to support small and micro enterprises, "agriculture, rural areas, and entrepreneurship and innovation. At the same time, we will strengthen the construction of the social credit system. The fund makes decisions and operates in a market-oriented manner based on the principles of "government support, market operation, minimum profit margin, and risk control". Preliminary calculations show that the fund can support approximately 500 billion yuan in related guaranteed loans over the next three years, accounting for about a quarter of the existing national financing guarantee business. It aims to alleviate the difficulties and high financing costs in inclusive fields such as small and micro enterprises and agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and support the development of strategic emerging industries.

The meeting pointed out that the institutional reform of the State Council is a major event of the State Council this year. The State Council has established a special coordination group, and relevant work is actively and steadily advancing. The meeting called for the integration of ideas and actions into the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee, the combination of deepening institutional reform with "streamlining management and delegating power", and the focus on transforming and optimizing government functions. Adhere to the principle of consistency of power and responsibility, ensure that daily management is in place with due diligence, complement each other in response to emergencies, and form a collaborative work force. No "blind spots" in management are allowed, and ensure the smooth, orderly, and coordinated progress of the State Council's institutional reform and economic and social development work, ensuring the completion of the main development goals and tasks for the whole year.

The meeting passed the "Revised Draft of the Working Rules of the State Council" and decided to submit it to the first plenary meeting of the State Council for review.