To promote the transition of tax performance management to tax performance governance, support the high-quality modernization of taxation in new era and better exert the basic, supportive role of taxation in the governing of the country, on November 6th, the 2020 Symposium on Performance Management in STA was held in Lanzhou by China Research Center for Government Performance Management, LZU. Over 100 participants including scholars and heads of more than 30 tax authorities on provincial, municipal and county level attended the symposium.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Prof. Bao Guoxian, director of China Research Center for Government Performance Management. Prof. Shan Yongzhong, vice president of Lanzhou University, Fu Shulin, director of Tax Publicity Center of State Taxation Administration (STA) and Xu Shanzhong, deputy director of Gansu Provincial Tax Service, STA were invited to speak at the plenary.

In his speech, Prof. Sha said that tax authorities have formed a performance management model with characteristics since the implementation of tax performance management in 2014 and have achieved remarkable results. The symposium will strengthen the cooperation and communication between tax authorities and universities, help scholars improve and use theories to practice and contribute to the reform of performance management in tax sections.

Director Fu quoting “the road may be long, but it will be near; the thing may be difficult, but it will be accomplished” said that the meeting was featured with outstanding focus, rich content and strong pertinence, and was of great significance to building a mature tax performance management system, promoting the quality and efficiency of tax performance management and realizing high-quality development.

Director Xu introduced the project working with China Research Center for Government Performance Management, “Enlightenment and Optimization Path of Tax Performance Management as A Performance Governance Model”, which is supported by National Social Science Foundation. He believes only by combing theory and practice, can the transition of performance management to performance governance be achieved.

Prof. Bao said in his speech that we should make good use of tools came out following the new scientific and technology revolution like big data and intelligence, breakthrough organizational boundaries and realize multi-governance of evaluation indicators; that we must guarantee fairness, scientificity and effectiveness in the process of performance management, continuously enrich contents and methods of performance incentive and realize the high-quality development of tax performance management in China.

Later, heads from tax authorities across the country shared their thoughts and practice. Lin Tao, deputy director of assessment office, Shaanxi Provincial Tax Service, STA gave a speech titled "Practice and Thinking on the Implementation of Performance Management in Shaanxi Province”; Yi Hu, director of assessment office, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Tax Service, STA, “Do Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division Well to Improve the Efficiency of Performance Management”; Wang Cong, deputy director of assessment office, Shenzhen Tax Service, STA , “Practice and Optimization of Tax Performance Management in Shenzhen”; Huang Rongxing, deputy director of Baise Municipal Tax Service, STA, “Performance Leads the Overall Situation and Promotes Reform and Development” ; Pu Feng, director of assessment office, Gansu Provincial Tax Service, STA, “Research on The Promotion of Performance Management to Tax Work”; and Yu Lingke, director of Zhanglang County Tax Service, STA, “Understanding and Suggestions on Performance Management”.

During the meeting, three parallel sessions were held under the themes of "optimization of index system", "improvement of organization and management" and "performance incentive mechanism". Participants shared and exchanged practical experience and theoretical research progress of tax performance management.

The symposium has established a platform for the exchange and interaction of theory and practice of tax performance management, which will promote performance management to play an important role in promoting the modernization of tax governance. At the same time, the seminar further enhanced the social reputation of China Research Center for Government Performance Management, LZU, strengthened the relationship between the research center and government departments, and effectively promoted the research center to give full play to its research advantages to serve the local social and economic development.

China Research Center for Government Performance Management, LZU is jointly constructed by Lanzhou University and Chinese Public Administration Society. It has been included in Chinese Think Tank Index (CTTI) and is a key research base on humanities and social science of higher institutions in Gansu Province and an significant base for basic theory research of Chinese government performance management, system construction and evaluation development, database construction, talent cultivating and social service. In terms of social service, the center is the pioneer of third-party evaluating government performance in China and has built a “Gansu Model”. The center was commissioned by the former Ministry of Land and Resources and Word Bank to do the evaluation and has involved in over 60 projects concerning the design of evaluation plan of STA, the former Ministry of Environment and the former Ministry of Agriculture, as well as local governments in Hangzhou and Shenzhen, with a total grant of more than 30 million yuan.