Landmark property, tax drafts revised

By Zhu Zhe (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-13 07:04

Two draft laws under discussion at this year's session of the National People's Congress (NPC) have been revised according to deputies' suggestions.

Though the deputies agreed that in general the draft property law was well-written and took into consideration the concerns of all parties, they suggested some specific changes, Yang Jingyu, chairman of the NPC Law Committee, said while delivering a report to the NPC presidium yesterday.

The nearly 3,000 lawmakers attending the NPC's annual session have been deliberating the draft property law.

Members of China's top advisory body also discussed the draft law and made suggestions for further revisions.

Yang said all the suggestions had been closely studied, and that more than 60 revisions had been made in accordance with the opinions of NPC deputies.

One major change lies in the stipulation that "one can demand repair, replacement and rehabilitation if one's property is damaged". The original draft submitted on Thursday to the NPC full session did not include "rehabilitation".

Yang said many deputies had noted that property could be both movable and immovable, and damage to immovable property, such as degraded farmland, could hardly be fixed or replaced. The revised version also deletes the time limit in the stipulation that "anyone who recovers the lost property of others should return or hand in the property within 20 days". Yang said deputies felt 20 days might be too short a period under some circumstances.

Before being submitted to the NPC session, the draft had received a record seven readings at the NPC Standing Committee.

Changes were also made to the corporate income tax law, Yang said.

One revision would raise the proportion of corporate charitable giving versus annual profits that can be exempted from taxes to 12 percent from 10 percent.

"The goal is to encourage more companies to donate money to support public welfare," Yang said.

Deputies also removed a stipulation that would allow tax breaks on infrastructure investment, saying funding for such projects would be adjusted by the State Council.

Xinhua contributed to the story

(China Daily 03/13/2007 page5)