China's fiscal revenue up 10.5 pct in first two months

BEIJING, March 18 (Xinhua) -- China's fiscal revenue registered a year-on-year increase of 10.5 percent in the first two months of the year, official data showed Friday.

The country's fiscal revenue amounted to 4.62 trillion yuan (about 728.42 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, according to data from the Ministry of Finance.

Tax revenue came in at 4.08 trillion yuan in the January-February period, up 10.1 percent year on year.

Revenue from value-added tax, the largest source of fiscal revenue in the country, rose 6.1 percent from the same period in the previous year, while that of individual income tax amounted to 404.3 billion yuan in the period, an increase of 46.8 percent year on year.

Stamp tax revenue went up 13.3 percent year on year to 113.7 billion yuan. Specifically, stock-trading stamp tax revenue logged a yearly rise of 10.7 percent.

The central government and local governments collected 2.28 trillion yuan and 2.34 trillion yuan in fiscal revenue, rising 11.3 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.

Friday's data also showed that China's fiscal expenditure went up 7 percent year on year to 3.82 trillion yuan.

Fiscal spending on education rose 9.1 percent year on year, while spending on science and technology grew 15.5 percent, and social security and employment 4.8 percent, said the ministry.