MOF downplays interest tax cut's impact on fiscal revenue

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-26 16:14

An official with the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Wednesday that although the government's tax revenue will be reduced from an interest income tax cut, it will not have big influence on the national fiscal revenue.

Wang Jianfan, deputy director of the taxation department of the MOF, said in an interview conducted by a governmental website that cutting the tax on interest income to five percent from 20 percent, indeed reduced the government's tax revenue from interest income by 75 percent.

Considering the tax revenue level in 2006, Wang said the country's tax revenue from interest income will maintain around 40 billion if the tax rate is not adjusted.

"But now it will drop to 10 billion yuan this year after the tax rate cut," said Wang.

But Wang also said as the tax is only one item of the country's personal income tax, and that with the increase of tax revenue from both the tax on corporate income and personal income, it will not influence the total of national fiscal revenue of the year.

According to Wang, the growth rates of tax revenue from tax on corporate income and tax on personal income have both exceeded 20 percent in the first half of the year.

Latest statistics released from the MOF also indicated that China, the world's fourth largest economy is well on the track of breaking last year's record high of fiscal revenue of four trillion yuan.

The MOF said the country's fiscal revenue has grown 30.6 percent to 2.6 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, taking up 59.3 percent of the year's revenue budget.


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