China's tax revenues up 30 pct

Beijing, July 23: : Driven mainly by a dramatic rise in company profits, China's tax revenues grew 30.5 per cent to 3.26 trillion Yuan (USD 472 billion) in the first half of 2008 over the same period a year earlier, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said.

SAT officials said company profits in 2007 drove up corporate income tax receipts by 200 billion Yuan in the first half.

But, the tax revenues might not be so buoyant in the second half due to global economic slowdown and the impact of the devastating earthquake of May 12 in southwest, Qian Guanlin, Deputy Commissioner of SAT, warned.

Value added, consumption and turnover taxes which rose 22.4 per cent, 18.5 per cent and 25.7 per cent year on year, respectively, accounted for almost half of the tax revenue.

Import tariffs grew 34.9 per cent to 395.6 billion Yuan, followed by stamp tax on securities trading which jumped 34.2 per cent to 83.7 billion Yuan, official Xinhua news agency said.

Li Xiaochao, the National Bureau of Statistics spokesman, said the tax rise would help China implement its fiscal policies and fund projects that would improve the living standards, despite the global economic slowdown.