The 22nd Session of the Township Party Committee

  The Party Committee of Mashixiang Township held a meeting in the conference room on the fourth floor. The meeting will focus on discussing the new policies for the economic zone and the textile factory issue. For Ye Zhenran, the importance is self-evident. The two main topics discussed at the meeting were both raised by him, and whether they can be passed smoothly not only means whether his governance thinking can be implemented but also means how much support he can get in the Party Committee.

  And he proposed that the enterprises entering the economic zone enjoy tax incentives, with a tax rebate rate unprecedented in history. Once implemented, it will inevitably attract a large number of non-public enterprises to enter the Ma Shi Xiang Economic Zone, followed by high attention from other towns and county-level economic development zones. If the policy is effective after implementation, all parties will follow suit. If it fails, it will face various criticisms. He can imagine that an argument at the party committee meeting is unavoidable.

  This is also his first important meeting after entering politics.

  Ye Ziran arrived at the conference room ten minutes early and took his seat. Before long, Wu Aizhao, the propaganda committee member of the party committee, and Pan Qiusen, the organization committee member, walked in together and nodded to Ye Ziran with a smile. Ye Ziran also smiled and leaned forward to greet them. The township-level party committee does not have a propaganda department or an organization department, but there are specialized committee members responsible for propaganda and organizational work within the party committee. Wu Aizhao and Pan Qiusen had been serving as committee members of the Mashan Township Party Committee for more than four years and were very familiar with Ye Ziran. However, they did not belong to the same circle. Pan Qiusen was a trusted aide of Secretary Qin, while Wu Aizhao did not have any obvious leanings and maintained an equal distance from Secretary Qin, Mayor Li, and Deputy Secretary Wang.

  The fourth to arrive was the head of the armed forces department, Lin. He came in with a smile and handed out a cigarette to each person. He was the oldest member of the party committee in Mashan Township, already over 50 years old. In general, he spoke very little at party committee meetings, and when it came time to vote, his choice was simple: no matter what, he supported whoever was in charge.

  Ye Ziran picked up the unlit cigarette and sniffed it at the tip of his nose, smelling the light and refreshing tobacco scent, and quietly became distracted. It's been more than two years since graduation, time really flies by, and the scenes from college are still vivid in front of my eyes, but now everyone is busy with their own work. The most worrying Yang Ying went to the United States and also had no news, that clever and beautiful girl, I suppose she is still continuing her studies alone. And he, in this small town of Changsha County, is steadily taking solid steps on his official career path.

  At the moment of distraction, Wang Jingyu, deputy secretary of the party committee, walked into the conference room and sat by the window. Seeing Ye Zhenran staring blankly, she smiled slightly. In the Mashan Township Party Committee, she had high hopes for young Ye Zhenran. In recent years, the Central Party Committee has attached great importance to leadership team building, strengthening the construction of leading cadres while promoting the youth and knowledge-based development of the cadre team. Ye Zhenran can be said to have been born at the right time, being both young and cultured, doing things with rules and regulations, and having been included in the list of reserve cadres by the Jianan Municipal Party Committee Organization Department for long-term observation. With all these factors combined, Wang Jingyu believed that he would go far in his official career.

  After Vice Secretary Wang came in, Township Head Li and Deputy Township Head Cheng walked in with smiles, just as they sat down, Secretary Qin also arrived.

  The meeting was presided over by Qin Daming, Secretary of the Party Committee.

  Qin Daming maintained his usual dignity, looked around at everyone and said: "Comrades, today's party committee meeting will discuss two contents. The first is the tax preferential treatment of the economic zone and personnel allocation; the second is the problems encountered in the rectification of township enterprises. Next, we will first discuss the first content, please ask Vice Mayor Ye Zhenran, who is in charge of the economic zone work, to make a situation report."

  Ye Ziran recalled his wandering thoughts and handed out the relevant materials of the economic zone to each participant, saying: "Everyone knows the basic situation of the economic zone, so I won't report it to the leaders. The main focus is on the recent work priorities of the economic zone. First, strengthen the service awareness of the employees in the zone and improve the competitiveness of the software in the zone. This task has been launched and will be implemented by the zone management committee; Second, after investigation and discussion, we found that the rural economic zones are not competitive in terms of scale and supporting facilities, and cannot attract large enterprises to settle down. My personal idea is to position the economic zone as a registered-type economic zone, mainly serving non-public enterprises, referring to collective enterprises and private enterprises. I hope to accumulate small advantages and win by quantity. On this premise, we plan to set up an office in the city of Jianan to expand our coverage and attract non-public enterprises from the city to register and settle in the economic zone; Third, in order to increase the attractiveness to private enterprises, I suggest implementing tax incentives."

  As expected, the first and second items passed smoothly. It was decided to set up an office in the city, equipped with a van for daily pick-up and drop-off, with a personnel quota of seven people, and adding one deputy director. The third item was met with fierce debate.

  "Yechang, you mentioned tax incentives, what is the specific amount?" asked Liang Bidah, a member of the township party committee and secretary of the discipline inspection commission.

  "My idea is that a 50% tax refund would be more appropriate."

  "Isn't this reduction too large? Won't it decrease the total tax revenue of our town?" Deputy Director Cheng asked in surprise.

  Ye Ziran had anticipated this question and was well-prepared. He spoke fluently: "Cheng Chang, because only enterprises registered in the economic zone can enjoy tax incentives, and our economic zone's tax revenue last year accounted for only 3% of the total tax revenue of the entire township, so it will not have a negative impact on the overall tax revenue. On the contrary, with such large incentives, many collective and private enterprises will register in the economic zone, and the total economic volume will increase by several times or even tens of times. Although more taxes are refunded, due to the larger base, the total tax revenue will increase significantly."

  What the mayor said moved Li Xiangchang greatly. As the administrative leader of the township government, he was most concerned about economic development indicators. However, he also had doubts about the 50% reward ratio: "Ye Chang's idea is very forward-thinking and can even be said to be bold, but I feel that a 50% ratio is indeed too high. It can be adjusted downward, and 35%-40% would already be a pioneering move for this city."

  Ye Ziran smiled and nodded, thinking that the first step of offering a 35% to 40% discount was not bad. Once other places react and follow suit, the economic zone in Mashixiang will have taken shape, and they can further increase the tax rebate incentives.

  "I express my opposition to this approach. Although the tax refund policy may have some stimulating effect on the economy after implementation, we must see that the main beneficiaries of this policy are collective enterprises and private enterprises, which is not in line with the country's current policies. On the one hand, we are rectifying and reforming township enterprises, and on the other hand, we are giving a green light to township enterprises and private enterprises. Is there a contradiction in our policies? Please consider this, comrades."

  Ye Ziran was shocked by what he had just heard. This Secretary Wang was not a simple man, with a sharp eye for problems. After the turmoil of 1989, a wave of opposition to bourgeois liberalization swept through the country, and domestic debates over the development of private enterprises continued. The political atmosphere suddenly shifted from right to left again. The state's economic policies also became somewhat wavering, as seen in the current efforts to rectify township enterprises, indicating that the upper echelons had doubts about the non-public economy, and conservative forces were recovering.

  "The country's policy has made some adjustments, but the party's assertion about the primary stage of socialism has not been overturned, and the policy of vigorously developing non-public economy has not changed. Since the reform and opening up, our country's economy has developed rapidly, among which the development speed of non-public economy is even more astonishing, I think this trend will continue, and the route of vigorously developing economy and expanding reform and opening up will not be shaken. Therefore, our tax preferential policy is in line with the national guidelines." Ye Zhenran once again clearly expressed his own views, tactfully raising an objection to Wang Jingyu.

  "Everyone discuss this, if this policy is introduced, it will attract widespread attention in our county. Comrades, this is an important topic, everyone should express their own views." Secretary Qin, as the top leader, also appeared more cautious at this time.

  "Developing the economy and expanding reform and opening up is indeed a long-term national policy of our country, but at present it is precisely the time to govern and rectify township enterprises. Secretary Wang's concerns are also very reasonable. In this period of time, isn't it more appropriate to temporarily put things on hold?" Party Committee Propaganda Commissioner Wu Azhao also expressed opposition.

  "Secretary Wang and Director Wu's speeches were quite cautious about the tax refund policy, I also think there is some reason. However, we should also see that the tax refund policy is not risky, my opinion is still to implement it now, take the lead and can attract non-public enterprises to come to Mashan to settle." Ye Zhenran spoke again.

  Secretary Qin saw Ye Zhenran hastily refuting and slightly furrowed his brow, thinking to himself that young people can be a bit too arrogant.

  Pan Qiu-sheng observed Qin Secretary's frowning and said: "Ye Chang's idea is indeed very bold, with a significant boost to the economic zone, but we need to consider two issues. Firstly, if the growth rate is not high, and there are many tax incentives, the negative impact will be prominent; secondly, after implementing this policy, our town will become a focus of attention, isn't it a bit risky?"

  This remark made Ye Zhenran's heart "thud" for a moment. Everyone understands the principle of "the bird that sticks its head out gets shot", but once this policy is implemented, the possibility of failure is extremely small. Once a large number of non-public enterprises are absorbed and settled in, the tax scale will expand exponentially, which can completely change the backward appearance of Mashixiang Township.

  Ye Ziran estimated in his heart that Wang Jingyu, Wu Azhuo and Pan Qiusheng were clearly opposed, Cheng Guang's attitude was unclear, only Li Jun had limited support, and Qin Daming always stood on the opposite side with Li Jun. The tax preferential policy seemed to be more harmful than beneficial. If so, it would be a heavy blow to him.

  It's up to everyone's vote now.

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