Ruithinking: Why the anger at alleged tax evasion?

World
Europe

02:14

News of tax evasion by celebrities has been a rare example of a topic arousing more controversy on traditional media than on social media. It has become a common problem due to low costs of law violation and loose monitoring.

Ordinary folks have unleashed their anger on the alleged tax evasion by movie stars. Famous actress Fan Bingbing is the latest victim of Cui Yongyuan, a former colleague of mine at both the national radio service and China Central Television.

It is no doubt that ordinary consumers and business entities are committed to paying taxes. But their welfare treatment seems way below what they should have enjoyed. China is among countries with high tax rates but the average Chinese person is not enjoying as much social benefits.

This is the complaint of many Chinese, and income polarization remains a source of social instability.

However, the government is making an effort to appeal to the echoes of the general public. For starters, it did not silence Cui Yongyuan, and a tax evasion investigation will soon be launched into the country’s film and TV industries.

Another tabloid story about this media event is that of a retired PLA air force officer who is a crazy fan of Fan Bingbing and could leverage influence on mafia and call for the murder of Cui Yongyuan.

Immediately this poor guy was exposed online and disciplined by the authorities. Clearly Chinese netizens in their millions do enjoy more latitude in exercising political oversight and in urging social progress.

In both cases, government agencies have been mobilized to enforce the law and regulations by drawing sources from public opinions. This kind of self-regulating mechanism does benefit from big data and 2.0 online debates.

But will the government’s policy-making be based increasingly on big data? I am not sure due to the double-edged sword of loose public sentiments and populism.