China to scrap outdated preferential tax policies
BEIJING - A senior tax regulator said here Tuesday that China should cut some redundant preferential tax policies for foreign-funded enterprises and strengthen taxation management to accelerate tax system reform and achieve sustainable tax increases.
Xu Shanda, deputy director of China's State Administration of Taxation (SAT), said at a financial forum here that some taxes for China's domestic enterprises are currently "higher" than those in other developed countries, and the relatively heavy tax burden will hamper enterprises' ability to innovate and keep a competitive edge in the international market.
To resolve the problem and achieve a higher general tax income, China should cut taxes on domestic enterprises, and abolish the outdated preferential tax policies for foreign investment, Xu said.
A better management of taxation would also contribute to an increase in national tax income, Xu added.
Xie Xuren, the SAT's director, said in January that China would start a trial reform of its taxation system this year by launching a new fuel consumption tax and kick off reform trials of the value added tax, corporate income taxes and personal income taxes.
According to the latest statistics, China's total volume of tax revenue exceeded two trillion yuan (about $250 billion).
Official statistics also showed that China's total tax revenues in 2003 reached 2046.1 billion yuan, excluding tariff revenues and agricultural tax revenues. This figure is up 20.3 percent, or 345.8 billion yuan, over the previous year.
(Asia Pulse/XIC) atimes.com |
