China's top legislature on Tuesday held its first-ever legislative hearing, a move described as aiming to enhance legislative transparency and to promote democracy in the lawmaking process.

The focus of the landmark hearing was the question of raising the personal income tax exemption threshold from the current 800 yuan (US$98.8) to 1,500 yuan (US$185), a major potential amendment to the existing Law on Personal Income Tax.

About 40 citizens representing the various cross-sections of society and regions were selected from a pool of about 5,000 applicants to attend the hearing. 20 of them were authorized to speak on behalf of the general public.

Their opinions will be treated as an "important reference and basis" for the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, to make amendments to the personal income tax law, according to the committee.

Any adjustment of the exemption threshold, the first in more than 20 years, is designed to meet the demands of socio-economic change including rising wage levels, cost of living and inflation.

"A major principle is to ensure the adjustment do not affect people's lives because they now have to pay more for housing, education, and medical services," a high-ranking taxation official said.

He said the proposed 1,500 yuan threshold is the most feasible considering the overall social and economic development of the nation, income and consumption levels, the impact on state revenue and the need to maintain stability.

During the session, the public representatives were each given 11 minutes to state their opinions. About 16 of them favored raising the personal income tax threshold to 1,500 yuan or even up to 3,000 yuan at the very maximum.

But the representatives differed on whether the adjustment should be of national application, or if regional considerations should be taken into account as well.

Zhou Jiang, one of the representatives, called the hearing an "experience of democracy" for him.

China put in force a law on legislation on July 1, 2000, which stipulates that the standing committees of local people's congresses are to solicit opinions from citizens when drafting laws and regulations. The opinion-collecting process may take the form of a symposium, debates or hearing.

As of the end of 2004, 24 provincial legislative bodies had held 38 legislative hearings on regional draft laws and regulations concerning market administration, protection of consumers' rights, environment and resources, construction of urban utilities and other major issues of public concern.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2005)