Fiscal Authority and Expenditure Responsibility Division Reform in National Park

At present, the division of fiscal authority and expenditure responsibility of national parks in China is too rough. It is an inevitable requirement for the next reform of national park system to refine the fiscal authority and expenditure responsibility of national parks in the vertical and horizontal directions in the field of natural protected areas. The division of fiscal authority and expenditure responsibility of national parks must be economically efficient and politically reflect the principles and requirements of the unified leadership of the central government and the balanced development of local governments. This paper subdivides the fiscal authority of national parks into nine first-class authorities, and several second-class authorities and items, and then analyzes each subdivided authority and item, in accordance to authority-partitioning principles. An optimal authority mode is determined based on the Chinese nature reserve management experience of comprehensively evaluating and judging different modes such as central government fiscal authority, local government authority, shared fiscal authority between national parks and local government. The basic conclusion of the study is that, in accordance with the hierarchical management system of national parks, the national parks under the direct management of the central government are mainly the central fiscal authority and expenditure responsibility, while the national parks entrusted by the central government to provinces are mainly the common fiscal authority and expenditure responsibility of the central and local governments.