More tax, fee cuts to support entities

China will continue to ramp up tax and fee cut efforts to support market entities, employment and livelihood, as the nation saw steady fiscal revenue growth in the first nine months of this year, officials said on Friday.

China's fiscal revenue grew by 16.3 percent year-on-year in the January to September period and came in at 16.4 trillion yuan ($2.54 trillion), the Ministry of Finance said during a media briefing on Friday.

Tax revenue grew by 18.4 percent year-on-year during this period. In September alone, tax revenue grew by 4.1 percent year-on-year.

Liu Jinyun, director of the Treasury Payment Center at the Ministry of Finance, said the country's fiscal revenue from the first nine months has met expectations and is overall stable amid the country's economic recovery.

The 18.8 percent year-on-year increase in corporate tax in the first nine months was achieved by a steady rise in profits of businesses, he said.

The country's fiscal expenditure totaled at 17.92 trillion yuan, up 2.3 percent year-on-year. Liu noted the government, particularly at the central level, has been cutting expenditure on non-essential and non-obligatory items.

Tan Long, a Finance Ministry official, said the tax and fee cuts are expected to total as much as 700 billion yuan for market entities.

Such cuts will continue in the near future, while arbitrary fee charges on enterprises will be dealt with. The ministry will also watch macroeconomic status closely and further refine tax and fee cuts to support market entities, employment and livelihood, so as the keep major economic indicators within a proper range.

At the Friday briefing, officials also noted that special local government bonds worth 2.21 trillion yuan have been issued in the first three quarters, reaching about 61 percent of this year's set target.

Funds raised from these bonds will be better channeled toward key projects under the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).