Hi-tech development zones in east China's Jiangsu Province paid 4.29 billion yuan in taxes lastyear, a record-setting 50 percent rise on a yearly basis and surpassing the growth rate of taxation in the province as a whole.

Last year, these zones contributed one-fifth of the year-on-year augmented amount of taxation in the province.

In recent years, taxes paid by local hi-tech development zones have maintained a 40 percent annual growth, the highest among all local economic sectors.

In 1999, local hi-tech zones generated 110 billion yuan of income, a 23.9 percent rise on a yearly basis.