By Guosheng Deng.
In my view, the most important policy or regulatory issue affecting China’s nonprofit sector is the need to revise the Charity Law – the basic law for the sector. Since its enactment in 2016, the Charity Law has played a significant role in regulating stakeholders in the field and providing the legal framework for developing the industry. However, it’s been demonstrated that certain insufficiencies, such as provisions for tax relief and deductions, need to be addressed. Such revisions wouldn’t be a quick fix: they would need to be reconciled with the need to promote the development charitable organizations and other stakeholders, to be consistent with existing laws and regulations, and to be enforceable in the complex tax system.
What should and can be done is for the National People’s Congress of China and its Standing Committee to launch the process to revise the Charity Law? This initiative has been on the agenda of the legislative body’s work plan, and has received the attention of academics. Public support from practitioners in the nonprofit sector will add valuable weight to the process, especially if it’s a combined effort led by the legislative body with the participation of the entire nonprofit community.
Guosheng Deng is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, in China. (Photo of the Forbidden City, in China, is courtesy of Ling Tang and Unsplash.)
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Sunday, May 16, 2021 in Asia-Australia
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