The Social Survey Institute of China (SSIC)
released the findings yesterday of a survey of public opinion on
the increase in the minimum threshold for personal income tax,
agreed by the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's
Congress (NPC)
on October 27.
From January 1, the monthly threshold will be
raised from 800 (US$98.95) to 1,600 yuan (US$197.9) and SSIC
conducted telephone interviews with 1,000 people in 10 cities
across the country.
About 77 percent of interviewees supported the
change, 4 percent were against and 19 percent indifferent. Those
against were mostly from Guangdong, Beijing and Shanghai.
About 45 percent of those surveyed thought the
revision was fair, while 29 percent thought it was not.
Some 46 percent thought it could not help bridge
the gap between rich and poor, and 32 percent thought it could.
Asked whether opinions should be solicited through
public hearings before amendments to laws are made, as took place
in this case, 57 percent said yes and 14 percent no, with 29
percent noncommittal.
The revision has drawn the attention of most of the
public and received wide acceptance, experts said.
However, they added that its effect on achieving
greater fairness and narrowing the gap between rich and poor is
still not universally recognized and that more efforts were needed
in this area.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, November 1, 2005)