China's tax authorities say over 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars) worth of taxes were slashed in the first half of 2019 in the country. As a key part of China's fiscal stimulus, huge tax and fee cuts have been carried out for both individuals and enterprises.   

Of China's reported 1.17 trillion yuan (170 billion U.S. dollars) tax and fee cuts, some 40 percent came from value-added tax (VAT). Since April 2019, China has enforced what authorities call the largest-scale VAT reform. 

The nation's manufacturing sector remains the biggest beneficiary, as the VAT rate for manufacturers has dropped from 16 to 13 percent. As such, fixed-asset investment for high-end and equipment manufacturing increased by nearly 10 percent year on year in the first half of 2019. 

Meanwhile, personal income tax revenue fell 30 percent in the first six months. Since late last year, major changes have come in raising minimum taxable income, itemized deductions and readjusted tax rates. 

Overall, the nation's first-half tax revenue still enjoyed a 1.4 percent growth from a year earlier, but the growth rate dropped 13.9 percentage points. But how have these reductions boosted China's economy? 

"First, the latest tax cuts have helped businesses lower their costs and have encouraged innovation by our additional deduction policies in their research and development fees. At the same time, an average of more than 13,000 yuan in income tax was cut for each individual in the first six months. More than 100 million people no longer need to pay income tax. This has largely boosted their consumption," said Cai Zili, a director at the property and behavior tax department of the State Taxation Administration (STA). 

On the other hand, the Chinese government has upgraded its black list for those failing to obey tax laws, as an integral part of its social credit system. 

"In the first half of this year, we released more than 7,200 cases involved in the black list, a 160 percent increase year on year. Among them, false special VAT invoices and export tax rebate scams were the majority. Meanwhile, we've launched joint disciplinary measures with departments like public security to punish bad taxpayers," said Fu Shulin, the spokesperson of the STA. 

Looking ahead, tax authorities say more measures will be carried out soon to further simplify the tax declaration and the paying process for companies and individuals.