Addressing Incentive Gaps in the Personal Pension System:Optimizing Tax Incentive Policy from an Inclusive Perspective
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China explicitly emphasized the need to accelerate the development of a multi-tiered and multi-pillar pension insurance system,alongside the active promotion of personal pension schemes.However,the current demand for personal pensions is much lower than expected,especially among low-income and middle-income groups.The personal pension system exhibits some significant shortcomings in coverage and inclusiveness.In this context,this paper first constructs a tax incentive model for the current personal pension policy,and then proposes the policy optimization scheme of graded tax rates in the collection phase and subsidies for low-income groups in the contribution phase from an inclusive perspective.Then,using numerical simulation methods,the paper estimates the tax incentive disparities across different income groups under the current personal pension policy,and compares the changes in tax incentives and the scope of beneficiary groups between the current policy and the proposed optimized policies.Finally,using data from the China Household Finance Survey(CHFS),the paper examines the impact of the current and optimized tax incentive policies on urban employees,and further explores the effectiveness of the optimized policies under the background of delayed retirement.The results show that the current tax incentive policy for personal pensions offers limited motivation for middle-income and low-income groups,and may even increase their tax burden.In contrast,the proposed graded tax rate scheme significantly expands the scope of beneficiaries receiving tax incentives,and enhances the tax benefits for middle-income and low-income participants.Specifically,the graded tax rate design redistributes income by linking the collection phase tax rates to an individual's lifetime average tax savings rate,so that low-income groups benefit from lower tax rates or tax exemptions when receiving pensions,while high-income groups bear higher tax rates.Additionally,the subsidy policy for low-income groups during the contribution phase compensates for their inability to fully benefit from tax incentives,while also improving the overall level of retirement security provided by personal pensions.Further analysis show that the current personal pension policy fails to cover more than 40.9％of urban employees,with over 8.5％of participants receiving pension returns lower than the return on one-year savings deposits.The proposed policy optimization not only achieves greater inclusiveness in personal pensions,but also significantly reduces the tax incentive disparity across different income groups.In the context of gradually delaying retirement,the tax incentive effect of personal pensions becomes more pronounced,making them more attractive than regular savings,and reducing the inequality in personal pensions.This paper uncovers the reasons behind the insufficient incentives for middle-income and low-income groups to participate.The proposed graded tax rate and contribution subsidy policies offer both theoretical foundations and practical pathways for the inclusive development in personal pensions,which is of great significance for improving china's personal pension system.
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