Chinese actors and actresses have added one more place to their must-go lists apart from stages and films studios - local taxation bureaus.
In the wake of the recent tax evasion case of the famous actress Liu Xiaoqing, many performers in Beijing have submitted taxation reports to local taxation authorities.
The taxation bureau in Dongcheng District of Beijing had set out a list of 47 major tax payers, all of whom are distinguished actors and singers, as the focus of supervision of taxation strategies of the bureau.
Among them are celebrated actor Li Xuejian, who had just finished performing in a TV series reflecting the lives of taxation officers in China.
From January to July, these 47 performers paid a total of 4.26 million yuan (US$561,000) of income taxes, according to the Dongcheng taxation bureau.
China's performers and actors are among the top list of highest income earners.
Meanwhile, in Hubei Province of Central China, over 50 million yuan (US$6.02 million) of income tax has been collected from over 3,000 high income earners in the first half of the year.
The local taxation bureau had set up a special team to track down records of tax payers from these high-earning professionals, mainly those from the field of finance, lawyers, accountants and sports.
(China Daily HK Edition August 23, 2002)
