Advances on transparency, but a way to go yet
The astronomical numbers in Premier Wen Jiabao's report to the National People's Congress should not be allowed to obscure some of the real advances it contains.
They include the promise that all official budgets will be released publicly, so that people can know 'how much the government spends and what it spends money on'.
Wen also said: 'Governments at all levels need to work hard to accomplish practical results for the people; and all public servants should genuinely become servants of the people.'
That could be bad news for mainland officials who routinely keep their financial affairs private.
The premier's comments reflect the central government's keen awareness of wakening taxpayer consciousness.
With the working class contributing most of the mainland's personal income tax revenue, there is widespread concern about the way that money is being managed and growing demands for increased transparency of government finances.
In theory, all organisations sustained by public funds - from the Communist Party to the judiciary, governments at all levels, semi-official trade unions and women's organisations - should open up their financial accounts.
But that is easier said than done. Even the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference do not publish the budgets for their annual sessions every March. People would be curious to learn how much is spent on the meeting venues, security, hotel rooms and communication services for the two meetings.
The executive branch is more than a third of the way through a three-year process, begun in December 2009, to release the budgets of all its departments, and 74 of the 171 agencies under the State Council have published general budget reports. But none of them has detailed spending on banquets, official cars and overseas travel - which, according to some mainland economists, could eat up a considerable chunk of tax revenue.
On the local level, Guangdong province introduced its own government transparency law in 2005 but its implementation still leaves a lot to be desired. An example is the continuing debate about the cost of hosting November's Asian Games in the provincial capital, Guangzhou.
At this year's municipal people's congress, some deputies said they had heard rumours that the city had incurred huge losses because of the Games. Those rumours were quickly denied by the municipal finance chief, who cited a few round figures to bolster his case. However, he also said that the government would not be able to release detailed accounts for two years, prompting many to ask why it should take so long.
It's no surprise that people feel bitter when governments squander their tax money. One has only to take a casual look at the new construction projects in mainland cities to see how badly some of the people's servants have behaved. The offices that collect revenue and approve spending, such as the local finance and tax authorities, are often housed in large and luxurious hotel-like buildings.
They pose a stark contrast with the simple and rundown, if not downright dangerous, schools, hospitals and working-class living quarters in the same cities.
And that is only what can be seen on the surface.
Opaque financial management is a hotbed for all sorts of corruption, and that does a great deal of damage to social harmony.
