Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (2763)	3/11/2004 1:33:03 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China to abolish age-old grain tax By Peter Morris The grain tax, one of China's oldest institutions, is due to be phased out over the next few years, Premier Wen Jiabao said recently in a speech to the National People's Congress (NPC). Records indicate that grain taxes have been collected for at least 4,000 years, providing the bulk of imperial China's government revenues. Along with levies on textiles, compulsory military service and corvee labor obligations, annual (and sometimes twice-annually) grain taxes have been one of the core responsibilities of people living under the yoke of successive Chinese empires. In the modern era, emperors have given way to reformers and technocrats. Premier Wen, along with President Hu Jintao and other technocrats representing the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) "fourth generation" of leaders, have singled out misguided agricultural policies and rural poverty as the primary factors contributing to China's lopsided economic development. Beginning this year, the 8 percent agricultural tax rate will be reduced gradually until it is scrapped entirely within five years, with greater reductions for major grain-producing areas and producers. In addition, except for tobacco, the tax on special agricultural products will be abolished altogether as of this year. The move is expected to cut the financial burden on farmers by US$580 million annually. atimes.com