China's top legislature is looking at cutting income tax for
average wage earners and ensuring higher income earners pay their
due.
Proposals put forward suggest raising minimum taxable income
from 800 yuan (US$98.8) to 1,500 yuan (US$185) and forcibly asking
high-income groups to file tax returns and pay taxes directly.
Shi Yaowei, director of the tax department under the Ministry of
Finance, said among China's 24 categories of taxes, personal income
tax is the most important for adjusting social property
allocation.
The divide between China's rich and poor has widened over the
last few years and continues to do so. China's current Gini
Coefficient - an internationally accepted measurement of income
equality - is 0.447.
"According to international standards, when a country's Gini
Coefficient is above 0.4, it means the country's rich-and-poor gap
is excessively wide," Shi said.
Statistics show that wage earners are China's mainstream
personal income tax payers. In 2004, China's revenue from personal
income taxes was 170 billion yuan (US$21 billion), 65 percent of
which was collected from salaried workers. This despite the fact
that only 20 percent of China's population enjoys 80 percent of the
country's social wealth.
Liu Huan, one of China's tax experts, said that the country's
300 million wage earners have borne the country's major tax burden.
They seldom evade taxes because most of them have had only one
income source, which is easy for tax authorities to inspect.
Another reason is that, their work units or companies often deduct
tax payable from their monthly salaries.
"However, the rich always have had more than one income source
and more opportunities to evade taxes," Liu said.
The minimum taxable income since 1993 has been 800 yuan
(US$98.8). In 1993, only 1 percent of citizens earned more than 800
yuan one month, but by 2002, the figure had risen to 52 percent. In
2003, the consumer price index increased by 60 percent from that of
1993.
Correspondingly, 800 yuan is no longer sufficient to cover a
citizen's basic living expenses.
"Raising the minimum taxable income from 800 yuan to 1,500 yuan
(US$185), means that the government would lose more than 20 billion
yuan (US$2.5 billion) in tax revenue, " Shi said.
But Shi and his team evaluated the 1,500-yuan minimum taxable
income as a reasonable option between the government's financial
capability and public expectations.
Article 8 of the current law reads:
"For individual income taxes, the income earner shall be the
taxpayer and the paying unit or individual shall be the withholding
agent. Taxpayers who receive wages or salaries from two or more
payers, or taxpayers without withholding agents, shall file tax
returns and pay tax themselves."
In reality, when the withholding agent fails to withhold tax, or
does not withhold enough tax, the agent has to pay a fine, but
taxpayers do not bear any legal responsibility for non-payment of
tax. This makes it easy for many high-income earners to evade
paying their taxes.
The draft amendments to that Article provide that as long as
one's income exceeds a certain sum designated by the State Council
(or the cabinet), the taxpayer shall file tax returns and pay taxes
directly. The tax authorities are entitled to fine those who do not
file tax returns or file inadequate tax returns, and to administer
legal punishment. The maximum fine could be five times more than
the tax payable.
(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2005)