China Tax magazine released the list of the 100 foreign funded enterprises, including those invested by businesses from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, which have contributed the most to the tax revenue in 2003. Shanghai Volkswagen secured its championship with a payment of 4.509 billion yuan, followed by Shanghai GM with 4.343 billion yuan and FAW with 3.871 billion yuan. The result is based on the data from the national taxation agency. It shows that tax paid by the top 100 increased by 46.31 percent over the previous year.

The list which used to include 50 private businesses as biggest tax payers extended to 100 for 2003. The top 100 from this category contributed 3.78 billion yuan. Shanxi Haixin International Iron and Steel paid 203 million yuan taxes, higher than any of its counterparts. The threshold of the list also rose to 13.9 million yuan from 8.65 million yuan in 2002.

11 names out of the 100 biggest tax payers from private businesses are also included in the lists of the richest by Forbes and Hu Run. They are Ding Lei, Chen Tianqiao, Wang Chuanfu, Li Zhaohui, Zhang Yue, Li Yongjun (and his family), Zuo Zongshen, Jian Yinghai, Zhang Zhixiang, Yin Mingshan and Ma Huateng.

By People's Daily Online