China releases tax reform plan

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Chinese authorities have released a plan to reform national and local taxation to create a more efficient, unified tax collection system.

The plan, released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, detailed the main tasks and principles of the reform.

"China will integrate the national and local taxation offices at and below the provincial level to enable the taxation system to better play its supportive role in state governance," according to the plan.

"More efforts will be made to ease collection procedures for taxes and fees, lower collection cost and improve the business environment."

Functions of taxation institutions will be optimized and resource allocation improved to increase tax-policy transparency and consistency.

After the integration of national and local taxation offices, there will be different responsibilities specified for taxation organs and government authorities at different levels to mobilize central and local efforts.

Starting Jan. 1, 2019, China will transfer the collection responsibility of social insurance charges, including basic pension and healthcare insurance, to taxation authorities, according to the plan.

A total of 8.2 trillion yuan (1.2 trillion US dollars) was collected in the first six months of this year, excluding export tax rebates, up 15.3 percent year on year, according to the State Administration of Taxation.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency