China's tax authorities say over one trillion yuan or 150 billion US dollars' worth of taxes were slashed in the first half of 2019 nationwide. CGTN reporter Wang Mengzhen has details from Tuesday's presser.

Of China's reported 1 trillion yuan in tax cuts, 40 percent came from the nation's value-added tax. Since April, 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 equipment manufacturing increased by nearly 10% year-on-year in the first half of 2019.

Meanwhile, personal income tax fell 30 percent in the first 6 months. Since late last year, major changes have come in raising minimum taxable income, itemized deductions and readjusted tax rates. Overall, the nation's tax revenue in the first half year still enjoyed a 1.4% growth year on year, but the growth rate dropped some a quarter percentage point. But how have these reductions boosted China's economy?

CAI ZILI DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY & BEHAVIOR TAX DEPT. STATE TAXATION ADMINISTRATION OF CHINA "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 costs. At the same time, more than 100 million people no longer need to pay income tax. This has largely boosted their consumption."

On the other hand, the Chinese government has upgraded its blacklist for those fail to obey tax laws, as an integral part of the nation's social credit system building.

FU SHULIN, SPOKESPERSON STATE TAXATION ADMINISTRATION OF CHINA "In the first half of this year, we released more than 7200 cases involving the blacklist, 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."

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. Wang Mengzhen, CGTN, Beijing.