What is the relationship between Fenghuang Ancient City’s admission fee and the elasticity of economics?

The Fenghuang Ancient City in Hunan Province collects admission tickets, which has become a typical case of government-run cities. The fig leaf has been torn away, exposing the true colors of some local governments that have long become business entities, and also exposing the medieval-style barbaric market economy. true colors.

The government should support itself with taxes rather than tickets, but basically in most places, people rely on the mountains to eat, and the sea to eat the sea. If they don't change the system, they will become the king of the mountain.

In the event of a sudden attack, the Fenghuang County Government held a press conference on March 19. Starting from April 10, Fenghuang Ancient City will combine the original free ancient city scenic area and the Nanhua Mountain Shenfeng Scenic Area into one "bundled sale" ”, charging tourists an entrance fee of 148 yuan.

Fenghuang is a major tourist county and has benefited greatly. On April 13, Cai Long, deputy magistrate of the county, said that in 2012, the county received 6.9 million tourists and achieved total tourism revenue of 5.3 billion yuan, which were 12.11 times and 71.34 times that of 2001 respectively. GDP increased from 835 million yuan in 2001 to 4.696 billion yuan, total fiscal and tax revenue increased from 45.43 million yuan to 507 million yuan, and fixed asset investment increased from 159 million yuan to 4.058 billion yuan. Driven by the leading industry of cultural tourism, the tertiary industry accounts for 67.5% of GDP, directly provides more than 20,000 jobs, and employs more than 60,000 people involved in tourism.

Without tourism, there would be no Phoenix. If tourism cannot develop healthily in the long term, Phoenix cannot develop healthily. This is a critical moment for Phoenix's transformation. How it transforms determines where this beautiful border city will go - if a modern management and fiscal taxation system is established, the place will become a model for a modern city; if it is increased in the form of toll collection If the income makes up for the shortfall, the city will become a contemporary microcosm of the medieval bandits, not far from Shen Congwen's youth.

The government charges city entry fees on the grounds that local resources cannot meet the growth in the number of tourists, the government is short of funds for protection and development, and tourists at close range are basically unwilling to pay admission fees for scenic spots.

These are the facts.

Fenghuang Tourism Director Ren Zhenjun said in an interview with the local media "Xiaoxiang Morning News" that according to statistics such as cameras, there are 1.3 million groups and 1 million individual tourists every year. There are 300,000 tickets for groups and 400,000 for individual visitors. The proportion of those who do not buy tickets exceeds 1/3. According to statistics from Ye Wenzhi, chairman of the Ancient City Tourism Development Company, the situation is even more serious. 70% of the people who come to Phoenix do not go to see the nine scenic spots, that is, do not buy a penny for tickets. Twelve years ago, the ancient city's original ticket revenue for the open attractions was only 1.57 million yuan a year. In 2012, the ancient city's nine scenic spots generated 178 million yuan in ticket revenue, escaping about 415 million yuan in ticket fees.

In the past, 9 scenic spots charged 148 yuan for admission, and about 30% was given to the government as taxes and operating rights transfer fees, which is about 53 million yuan a year, money specifically used for ancient city protection and tourism facilities. "0".

According to the ticket revenue distribution plan announced by the Fenghuang County Government, the 148 yuan ticket revenue in the ancient city will be divided into four parts. Except for the 2% ticket agency fee, the other parts are unknown. Considering that in February, Ye Wenzhi’s Fenghuang Ancient City Company, Nanhua Mountain Company, and Rural Tourism Company invested 51%, and a wholly-owned company under the county government invested 49%. They jointly established the Fenghuang Ancient City Scenic Spot Management Service Company with a registered capital of 120 million yuan. The company uniformly implements ticket sales, marketing and services for scenic spots and attractions. If the company owned by the county government enjoys 49% equity income, it will enjoy 291 million yuan in ticket fees.

The government cannot obtain large-scale value-added business tax from scattered merchants. Ren Zhenjun, director of Phoenix Tourism, said that the ratio of the drop in business tax to ticket collection has not been done because it is difficult to make statistics. The income from ticket sales is real money, and it takes no effort to get it. The business tax collection of merchants is a hassle. Ye Wenzhi believes that the merchants currently operating in Fenghuang Ancient City miss at least 80 million yuan in tax every year.

Phoenix relies on real estate, etc., and its tax revenue has increased significantly. According to data from the Fenghuang County Finance Department, as of March 31, Fenghuang County had completed a total fiscal revenue of 130.83 million yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 26.85 million yuan, an increase of 25.82%, exceeding the state goal by 10.82 percentage points, ranking first in the state. two. It can be seen from the completion of the county's main tax categories that due to strong fixed asset investment in the county, the acceleration of the construction of key projects such as real estate investment and development, highways and park construction, tourism-related enterprises have achieved better results, driving the county's tax revenue to grow by 33.49% %, exceeding the growth rate of non-tax revenue by 19.15 percentage points. The five main types of taxes, including business tax, corporate income tax, land value-added tax, farmland occupation tax and deed tax, totaled 67.54 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.61 million yuan or 93.36%. If there is no real estate, no property taxes and fees, and if there is no infrastructure, the local government will have to drink from the northwest wind.

Short-distance tourists avoid entrance fees, business tax collection is weak, local governments are greedy for real money, and tasks such as building five-star hotels and other achievement projects, and protecting ancient cities are imminent. When all factors are combined, it is necessary to collect the toll payment in a unified way. The lowest cost and most efficient way to make money.

At this time, through the local people's congress and local public opinion, taxes and fees can be uniformly paid to increase the government's financial resources. At the same time, through local elites, the interests of all local classes can be balanced, as well as the balance between local income and foreign tourists. interests. In this way, non-governmental organizations have been cultivated, citizens have learned to act according to the rules, and various interest appealers have channels for communication.

The local government in Fenghuang feels aggrieved. Lijiang charges maintenance fees, but Zhouzhuang can charge town fees. Why can't Fenghuang charge city fees? Moreover, after charging, Lijiang and other places are still prosperous, and high-end consumers can be screened out. Why not?

Others’ mistakes cannot prove one’s own right. Being someone else’s king is not the reason for one’s becoming one. Any barbaric charging behavior that abandons procedural justice will create rifts in the unified market economy. This is also This is the fundamental reason why my country's urban economy has become a mountain king's economy and the unified market has been delayed in building.