China will significantly reform its system of local taxes next year, tax chief Jin Renqing said Sunday.
Addressing the National Taxation Work Conference in Beijing, Jin also said that amendments to tax collection laws had been completed and would be submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Friday for review.
Jin was quoted by Xinhua as saying China would speed up reforms of a variety of local taxes covering areas such as transport, real estate and land use.
"All levels of tax organs must seriously implement all tax reforms (next year) and ensure every policy is fully enforced," Jin, the Commissioner of the State Administration of Taxation, said.
Speaking at the same conference, Vice-Premier Li Lanqing reiterated that tax officers must put their house in order and stop runaway tax evasion and fraud.
"The tax force must insist on strict discipline among its rank and file. We must continue to strike hard on exporters who cheat the Government on export tax rebates, improve training for cadres and try hard to upgrade the quality of the whole tax force," Li said.
Echoing the Vice-Premier's message, Jin reminded tax collectors that they must learn to use modern technology such as mainly computer networks to spot tax cheats and ensure they were brought to justice.
"At present, our urgent task is to re-establish order in the tax system," Jin said. "All levels of tax organs should make full use of modern methods such as the "gold-tax system" to hit hard against exporters who cheat on taxes," he said, in a reference to a project to spread the use of upgraded computer systems.
Jin also urged tax collectors to increase the share of tax revenue in terms of China's gross domestic product (GDP), as well as the proportion of tax revenue sent to the central Government's coffers.
He suggested China would gradually turn the value-added tax (VAT) into a real consumption tax and unify income-tax rates for foreign and domestic businesses.
Jin hoped the NPC Standing Committee would pass the new tax collection laws. Major amendments included more checks and balances on tax collectors, greater protection for taxpayers and the administration of tax certificates. A major feature of the new legislation was setting up a code to make tax collection subject to reviews and challenges.
(People's Daily 12/19/2000)
