Chinese Taxation Sees Steady Half-Year Growth 　　China saw a steady half-year growth of tax revenue during the January-June period, with the growth rate standing at 19.6 percent on an annual basis. 　　According to the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), the country raked in 497.5 billion yuan (about US$60 billion) in taxes over the first six months this year, an 81.4-billion-yuan increase over the same period last year. 　　This was the first time since 1994 that the country met the tax schedule for a half-year period, achieving 52.2 percent of the annual target. 　　Commissioner of the SAT, Jin Renqing, told a national meeting of directors of taxation offices in Beijing July 13 that this was the best achievement of the country's taxation system in years. The half-year growth rate of tax revenue was over twice the ratio for the same period last year, he said. 　　According to SAT statistics, the rapid growth of import taxes, value-added taxes, corporate income taxes, and consumption taxes contributed to the surge of tax revenue in the past six months. 　　Thanks to increasing imports and the county's crackdown on smuggling, import tax skyrocketed by 107.5 percent year-on-year to 49.3 billion yuan over the period. 　　Value-added taxes increased by 13.9 percent to 188.1 billion yuan, while consumption taxes increased by 10 percent to 39.3 billion yuan. 　　Jin said that the record growth of tax revenue was based on stronger economic performance rather than increasing burdens on corporations. 　　He noted that the country's investment in fixed assets has spurred the production of raw materials, and that value-added taxes from the petroleum, construction materials, chemical and textile sectors have seen an all-round increase over the past six months. 　　Since the beginning of this year, the SAT has taken over the levying of income taxes on state-owned enterprises from the Ministry of Finance, and this has helped boost corporate income tax revenue by 13.2 billion yuan during the January-June period. 　　Excluding contingent factors, the actual growth rate of tax revenue was 11.7 percent year-on-year for the period, 3.5 percentage points higher than the economic growth rate. 　　However, Jin said, the country's lackluster consumer market has caused a slump in the growth rate of operation taxes, which grew by only 8.1 percent, the lowest growth rate for the first half- year ever. Operation taxes from the financial and insurance sectors saw negative growth over the period due to decreasing interest rates and a surging deposit-loan ratio. 　　He said that the taxation situation for the second half of the year allows of no optimism, and predicted that the monthly growth rate of tax revenue would decrease continuously over the next six months. 　　However, he pointed out that the record growth in the first half year has ensured that the country will meet the target of increasing tax revenues for the year. 　　Local economists predict that the country's tax revenue may reach 1 trillion yuan (US$121 billion) this year. 　　Jin said the country is planning to give further tax deductions to enterprises to stimulate economic growth in the next six months. (Xinhua-PD) Economicnews 1999-07-14 Page2 Full Story in Chinese