Tax Revenue Soaring in Five YearsChina's tax revenue topped 4.7 trillion yuan during the 1996-2000 period, 3.2 times the amount of the five-year period from 1991 to 1995.According to a national meeting on taxation that opened Sunday, December 17, the tax revenue for the 1996-2000 period was 260 billion yuan more than the total for the period from 1953 to 1995. Jin Renqing, Commissioner of the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), told the meeting that tax revenue has increased at an annual average of 130 billion yuan over the past five years, registering an increase rate above 15 percent. Jin noted that economic growth contributed to 60 percent of the increase in tax revenue over the period. He said that other factors such as government policies and higher efficiency of tax collection contributed to the remaining 40 percent of the growth. In real terms, tax revenue grew nine percent annually during 1996-2000, approximately equal to the average economic growth, which stood at 8.8 percent annually. Tax revenue is expected to account for 14 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) this year, compared with 10.2 percent in 1995. The tax revenue of the central government now accounts for 59 percent of the total tax revenue of China, compared with the ratio of 57 percent five years ago. Jin said that in the first eleven months of the year, tax revenue reached 1,131.8 billion yuan, 23.4 percent more than for the same period of last year, surpassing the target set at the beginning of the year. |
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