Clear up surcharges in doubt

Other Views

Public resources need transparency

Resources such as water, electricity and natural gas can be monopolized by State-owned enterprises to avoid waste. However, many monopoly enterprises use their privilege to charge residents excessively, because the latter as the weaker side have no other choice available. That requires the government to intervene by removing the fees that are without legal support, and the legislature to pass laws prohibiting similar improper fees in the future.

Ningbo Daily, Nov 19

'An additional natural resource fee" is obviously unjust, but the departments and agencies that collect it view it as their untouchable interest. They have decided to collect it without any legislative process, save it in their own account, and spend it without any supervision; the unjust fee is almost their private property that can be used at will. That's essentially why the fees persist even though many reforms have been vowed to remove them.

voc.com.cn, Nov 18

Many call for removing the illegal additional fees. But another question is: The authorities have collected the fees for decades, there has never been any accounting record; where has the money gone? Was the money included in the State finance or was it spent for their selfish interests? Those who misused the money should pay for their misdeeds.

Hangzhou Daily, Nov 18

Authorities defend themselves by claiming that roadside parking lots are precious public resources, and they issue fines to prevent misuse. But the efficient using of public resources relies on a transparent system, in which residents know how many resources are available and can make reasonable decisions accordingly. A mechanism open to public supervision is needed to replace the current "ticket mode".

xinhuanet.com, Nov 24

The Ministry of Finance said the residents could refuse illegal additional fees. That's a good move theoretically, but consumers have long been powerless facing monopolies, and if they refused to pay the illegal fee they would suffer. Higher authorities need to intervene and the sentence "they have the right to refuse" alone won't help.

xwh.cn, Nov 18