Steep corporate tax cuts to help ensure steady growth: economist

BEIJING - China's sustained efforts to lower the corporate burden will help stabilize employment, investment and growth expectations, said Bai Jingming, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences.

Following colossal tax and fee cuts of around 1.3 trillion yuan ($194 billion) in 2018, China will reduce the tax burdens and social insurance contributions of enterprises by nearly 2 trillion yuan this year.

Small and micro companies, which provide the majority of jobs, would be the major target of such cuts in 2019, showing a clear pro-employment policy tendency, Bai told the People's Daily on Monday.

This year, China will reduce the current value-added tax rate of 16 percent for manufacturing and other industries to 13 percent, and lower the rate for such industries as transport and construction from 10 to 9 percent.

A universal tax cut will greatly ease the tax burden of companies in purchasing fixed assets like machinery equipment and save costs for equipment manufacturers, resulting in more room for investment, Bai said.

The massive corporate tax cuts this year showcased the central government's efforts to inject more energy into economic development and to make sure market entities receive benefits, which will help stabilize market expectations of the economy, according to Bai.

Bai believes the move will unleash Chinese people's unlimited potentials in innovation and creation and boost the nation's high-quality development.

China's economy, the second largest in the world, expanded 6.6 percent to exceed 90 trillion yuan last year. The growth target for 2019 was set at 6-6.5 percent.