China's overall fiscal revenue is expected to hit a record high of about 2.6 trillion yuan (317 billion US dollars) this year with a bigger- than-expected fiscal surplus, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said in Beijing Tuesday.

Addressing a national fiscal meeting, the minister, however, did not give an estimated growth rate year-on-year, saying only China registered 283.6 billion yuan (34.58 billion US dollars) in fiscal surplus during the first 11 months of this year.

The country's fiscal revenue exceeded 2 trillion yuan (243.9 billion US dollars) last year, and China's fiscal deficit for last year stood at 293.4 billion yuan (35.78 billion US dollars) in 2003, the minister said in a report to a group of the country's top legislative body.

The minister said departmental funding for agricultural, social security, education, science undertakings has been increased by big margins, ranging from 14.1 percent to 31.7 percent.

On priorities for fiscal arrangements for 2005, the minister said China would continue to increase funding for the agricultural sector and programs for farmers, including efforts to reduce tax burdens.

A senior financial official said that the phase-out of the agricultural tax will be done ahead of schedule. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised last year that taxes on the crops of the country's 800 million economically disadvantaged farmers will be phased out within five years.

The ongoing reform, including tax exemptions and cuts, has helped reduce the tax burden of Chinese farmers by 30.2 billion yuan (3.6 billion US dollars) this year. For this the central government arranged 21.9 billion yuan (2.67 billion US dollars) in transfer of payments to local governments, said the minister.

The central government also offered 11.6 billion yuan (1.4 billion US dollars) in direct grain subsidies to farmers this year.

A total of 37.6 billion yuan (about 4.5 billion US dollars) in treasury bond capital, about 34.2 percent of the total for this year, has been used for agricultural projects, said the minister.

On tax reform plans, the minister said China will strive to prepare to restructure corporate income tax laws, including one that offers preferential treatment to overseas-funded firms and one for domestic firms.

China will also work hard to improve its private income tax policy and properly expand the scope the consumption law covers and adjust its rates, while exploring ways to reform the real estate tax policy and resources tax policy.

Source: Xinhua