China to step up tax, fee cuts to support market entities

A staff member of Tax Service learns about situation of business resumption and operation at a garment factory in Jingxing County, Shijiazhuang City of north China's Hebei Province, Feb. 5, 2021. (Xinhua/Jin Haoyuan)

BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China will intensify tax and fee cuts with targeted measures in 2022 to bring benefits for market entities and bolster economic growth, according to the Finance Ministry on Tuesday.

"China will see a larger scale of tax and fee cuts this year," the minister of finance Liu Kun told a press conference, citing that the country cut about 1.1 trillion yuan (about 173.9 billion U.S. dollars) of taxes and fees last year.

The country will maintain appropriate levels of fiscal expenditure while giving priorities to key sectors including sci-tech breakthroughs, environmental protection and major regional strategies, Liu said.

Measures will be taken to allocate local government special bonds in a reasonable manner, Liu said, noting that the country issued 484.4 billion yuan in January to fund projects in the transport, industrial park infrastructure and other key areas.

The figure accounted for one-third of the 1.46 trillion-yuan funds that were allocated late last year from the country's 2022 quota for local government special bonds.

China will see an increase in its transfer payments to local governments, especially for less developed regions and those in difficulties, Liu added.