China's top legislature held its first-ever legislative hearing on Tuesday, aiming to enhance legislative transparency and to promote democracy in the lawmaking process.

The hearing is on lifting the cutoff point of the personal income tax from 800 yuan (98.8 US dollars) to 1,500 yuan (185 US dollars), a major potential amendment to the existing Law on Personal Income Tax.

Some 40 people from various walks of life and various regions across the country, selected from nearly 5,000 applicants, attended the hearing, with 20 of them serving as speakers for the general public.

Their opinions will be treated as an "important reference and basis" for the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, to make amendments to the personal income tax law, according to the committee.

The adjustment of the cutoff point, the first in more than 20 years, is designed to meet the rising wage level, cost of living and inflation.

"A major principle is to ensure the threshold of income tax payment will not affect the people's lives as they have to pay more for housing, education, and medical services," said a high-ranking taxation official.

He said the proposed 1,500 yuan threshold is most feasible after considering the overall social and economic development of the nation, income and consumption levels, the impact on state revenue and the need to keep the standard stable.

During the session, the public representatives were each given 11 minutes to state their opinions. Eighty-five percent of them favored raising the personal income tax threshold to 1,500 yuan or to a higher level, 3,000 yuan at the highest.

But the representatives differed on whether there should be a unified threshold all over the country or regional differences should be allowed.

Zhou Jiang, one of the representatives, called the hearing an "experience of democracy" for him.

Yang Jingyu, chairman of the NPC's Law Committee, said that the adjustment of the threshold has aroused great concern among the general public.

By holding the first-ever public hearing for such an important legislation, "we are collecting the wisdom and proposals of people from all walks of life," said Yang.

"It is also a major step in increasing legislative transparency and democracy," he added.

China put in force a law on legislation on July 1, 2000, which says the standing committees of local people's congresses should solicit opinions from various sides when making laws and regulations. The opinion-collecting process may take various forms, including symposia, debates or hearings.

By the end of 2004, 24 provincial legislative bodies had held 38 legislative hearings on regional draft laws and regulations concerning market administration, protection of consumers' rights, environment and resources, construction of urban utilities and other major issues of public concern.

According to Peng Zhenqiu, a deputy to the NPC, all the opinions raised in these hearings were well considered when the provincial lawmakers formulated local laws and regulations.

Source: Xinhua