Agricultural taxes exempted in Yunnan
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-04-10 11:06

The decision made by the government of Hongta District of Yuxi city that local farmers were exempted from agricultural taxes since March 30 this year signified an easing of farmers' economic burdens in Yunnan Province, said an official with the provincial Department of Civil Affairs.

As a border province in southwest China, Yunnan suffers China's biggest poverty-stricken areas with the largest impoverished population.

Among the province's 43 million population, 34 million live in rural areas. Statistics at the end of 2002 showed that 4.78 million farmers in the province lived on the meager annual income from 625 yuan (US$76) to 865 yuan (US$105) while another 2.86 million could not even earn 625 yuan a year.

Though the provincial government had spent 18.9 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in recent years, solving the basic food and shelter problems for 7.24 million people, Yunnan still had the largest impoverished population in the country, the official said.

The agricultural taxes were reduced from 11 million yuan (US$1.3 million) to 6.2 million yuan (US$749,698) in Hongta district last year, an official with the district government said, and all the remaining taxes were exempted this year.

This would save 87 yuan (US$11) for a household each year, and 24 yuan (US$3) per person, he said.

Zhang Yuhua, a farmer of the district, was excited with the decision.

"The four members of my family own 1 mu (about 0.07 hectares) of farmland, planting vegetables, rice and wheat," said he.

"The annual income of my family amounts to 2,000 yuan (US$242), but every member had to pay 10 yuan (US$1.21) as agricultural taxes."

"However, we can save 40 yuan (US$5) thanks to the exemption and we will spend the money in fertilizers and pesticide," Zhang said with a smile.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao announced in his government report this year that China will cancel agricultural taxes, excluding tobacco tax, in all its provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities by 2009.

The central government's close attention towards farmers' income was a good news to China's agriculture, said Prof. Ye Guangyu, an agricultural expert of Yunnan Agricultural University.

"The mere tens of yuan saved from exemption of agricultural taxes is really a large sum of money to farmers in poverty- stricken areas," said the expert.

Ye said China's agricultural market was impacted by foreign competitors after its entry into the WTO and agricultural taxes, which actually raised costs in agricultural production, could only impair the competitiveness of Chinese farm produce in the international market.

The exemption would not only help increase farmers' income, but also be of significance in the balanced development between urban and rural areas, he said.

Apart from Yunnan, northeast China's Heilongjiang and Jilin are set to be pilot provinces to cancel agricultural taxes.

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