Shanghai Tries New Way to Reduce Farmers' Burden

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 16, 2003

Shanghai Tries New Way to Reduce Farmers' Burden

Farmers in east China Shanghai Municipality will be exempted from agricultural taxes beginning this year, according to a spokesman with the municipal government.

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Farmers in east China Shanghai Municipality will be exempted from agricultural taxes beginning this year, according to a spokesman with the municipal government.

Spokesman Jiao Yang said at a media session Tuesday that the new step was designed to expand the rural tax reform in the city.

With the new policy, farmers in Shanghai will be saved from paying 143 million yuan (about 17.23 million US dollars) in agricultural taxes each year.

China has been experimenting with the rural tax reform in a number of selected regions to figure out how to resolve the centuries-old headache for governments and enable the 900 million farmers across the country to pursue a better life under a more relaxed burden.

Those farmers under the experimental rural tax reform are required only to pay agricultural taxes and related additional taxes.

According to Jiao, the municipal government has also decided to give financial subsidies to comparatively poor suburban counties and districts where agriculture makes up a larger proportion in the local economy.

Shanghai began to introduce the rural tax reform in March 2002.In 2001, taxes on farmers in the city amounted to 425 million yuan(about 51.21 million US dollars), but the number was reduced to 143 million yuan (about 17.23 million US dollars) in 2002.

In tandem with the rural tax reform, the municipal government has also launched a campaign to streamline the village-level organizations. By late 2002, the number of administrative villages had been reduced from 2,693 to 2,001.

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