Tax Collectors Achieve Targets 　　Premier Zhu Rongji recently congratulated more than 1 million local tax collectors for achieving the national target for increasing last year's annual tax revenues by 100 billion yuan. 　　Zhu praised the efforts in a recent letter to the State Administration of Taxation (SAT). He said tax officers successfully achieved the goal under "difficult objective conditions" by strengthening taxation management, plugging loopholes, rendering punishment for corrupt practices and clearing tax payments due in a timely manner. 　　SAT statistics released January 4 show that China collected 855.1 billion yuan in tax revenues from the industrial and commercial sectors, up 13.3 percent or 100.3 billion yuan in 1997. 　　Total revenues, domestic value-added tax and consumer taxes hit 455.3 billion yuan, up 12.5 percent on the previous year. 　　The successful results dispelled earlier fears that China would face difficulty in achieving its annual tax collection target due to the negative impact of the financial crisis engulfing many parts of Asia and devastating summer flooding in many parts of the nation. 　　The central government introduced to mete out severe punishment for illegal tax practices, with local taxation departments strengthening efforts to collect overdue taxes owed by debt-ridden companies and thwart tax evasion. 　　Local governments work diligently to collect overdue taxes from local firms and enhance general public awareness of the importance of taxation for the national economy. 　　Tax revenues grew on a monthly basis during the second half of last year, especially for the November-December period when revenues hit 191.2 billion yuan and accounted for 22.4 percent of the annual total. 　　The ratio of industrial and commercial 1998 tax revenues to gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 10.7 percent, up 0.7 percent on the previous year. 　　 　　 HomeNews 1999-01-05 Page1 Full Story in Chinese