The Chinese government is to raise tax rates through new urban land use tax regulations, in a bid to strengthen macro-economic control policies.

 

In a State Council meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday, China's cabinet decided to amend the provisional regulations on taxes on urban land use issued in 1988.

 

The new unified tax rates will be unilaterally applied to domestic and foreign companies to foster fair competition.

 

China's economy grew 10.7 percent in the first three quarters of this year, with fixed assets investment surging 27.3 percent. This has caused the government to seek for effective economic cooling methods, with checking excessive growth of credit and land supply high among these.

 

Measures have been taken to tighten land supply in the second half of 2006, including setting higher taxes on urban land use and stripping local governments of their authority to spend land sale funds.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2006)