Reporters' Log

No change seen for individual income tax threshold

By Li Weitao (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-03-07 16:52

China currently has no plan to revise the individual income tax threshold, a senior government official said on Friday.

Calls have been growing for the government to raise the 2,000-yuan ($292) personal income tax threshold to stimulate domestic consumption. However, the time is not ripe now for the government to raise the threshold, Liao Xiaojun, vice minister of finance, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying on the sidelines of annual sessions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

China raised the threshold from 800 yuan to 1,600 yuan in 2005 and then to 2,000 yuan in 2007, but many people believe the threshold needs to be raised even higher. Some deputies at the CPPCC and the National People's Congress have proposed raising it to at least 3,000 yuan.

Zhou Qiren, a leading Chinese economist, said last November that top lawmakers had already "reached a consensus" to boost the individual income tax threshold soon.

But Liao's remarks indicate that it could take longer for the government to revise the threshold than many had expected.

Central Economic Work Conference

• Interest Rate Cut
• 30 Years of Reforms
• Coping with Financial Crisis
• Housing in China
• 2008 Tsinghua Management Global Forum
• more

Hot Words

• 政府注資 pump priming
• 軟環境 soft environment
• 糧食最低收購價 crops' minimum purchase prices

• 保八 Eight Percent Protection
• 以人為本 Put People First
• 農民企業家 Farmer-turned-entrepreneur
• 窗口指導 window guidance
• 下崗再就業 Re-employment after being laid off
• more

From Foreign Press

• German media give full coverage to Premier's report
• Overseas press praise China's 8% economic growth
• German media: Economy tops agenda at NPC session
• From the foreign press
• World media keeps close watch on 'two sessions'
• more

Letters

• Corruption top issue for public
• China adopts Food Safety Law
• China's economic growth in 2009
• more