China's Ministry of Finance said on Thursday that the nation's fiscal revenue grew 21.3 percent year on year to 8.31 trillion yuan (1.26 trillion U.S. dollars) last year.

Of the total, the central fiscal revenue topped 4.25 trillion yuan, up 18.3 percent from the previous year, while local governments collected 4.06 trillion yuan, up 24.6 percent, the ministry said in a statement on its official website.

Also, tax revenues rose 23 percent last year from 2009 to 7.32 trillion yuan.

The ministry attributed this robust revenue hike to relatively fast economic growth, price hikes, surging purchases and consumption tax driven by growing vehicle sales, along with a lower comparison basis a year ago.

The fiscal revenue for last December surged 23.7 percent year on year to reach 634 billion yuan, the ministry figures showed.

Meanwhile, fiscal expenditure nationwide grew 17.4 percent to nearly 8.96 trillion yuan in 2010.

Also, the ministry said the fiscal expenditure structure was optimized last year, attending more to issues concerning people's livelihood, such as education, medical and health care, social security, housing, and agriculture.

Fiscal revenues in China include taxes as well as administrative fees and other government income, such as fines and income from state-owned assets.