The Chinese government will study the effect of private property taxes in cities such as Shanghai and Chongqing before implementing the tax nationwide, according to a senior official from the Ministry of Finance, a move that has drawn a mixed reaction from experts.
At a government conference on the construction and management of affordable houses in cities Thursday, Assistant Finance Minister Wang Baoan said that the tax policy is one of various government measures aimed at regulating the housing market, according to china.com.cn.
Taxes on properties in Shanghai and Chongqing were imposed earlier this year, and the next step is to improve the tax system, analyze the experience gained in the two cities and then speed up the application of the policy, said Wang.
Jiang Weixin, minister of housing and urban-rural development, said at the conference that the house purchase restriction had been the last administrative resort of the government against the backdrop of soaring house prices, after other measures were unable to curb the situation.
He said that the government is trying to build a platform that integrates systems of personal housing information, banks, finance, tax and public security.
"The housing information system has been developed for more than two years. Once the platform is built, the house purchase restriction method will be dropped," Jiang said.
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