A series of governmental policies have been recently launched in Hangzhou City, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, to help local enterprises pull through the SARS crisis.
Since the first SARS case was spotted in Hangzhou on April 20, the city's tourist, trade, catering, transportation and entertainment industries have all suffered serious losses.
In addition to allocating 45.88 million yuan (US$5.55 million) in special funding for the prevention and treatment of SARS, the Hangzhou city government has also implemented policies to reduce or remit the tax burden on local enterprises affected by the disease.
In Hangzhou, the minimum taxable monthly sales volume figure was also increased to 5,000 yuan (US$604.6), a move which will generate a drop of 6.8 million yuan (US$822,250) in local tax revenue.
In addition, hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and transportation and entertainment industries are entitled to apply for tax reductions due to the severe negative impact of SARS.
(China Daily May 9, 2003)
