Revenue growth slows dramatically
The mainland's total revenue growth slowed drastically to 1.64 trillion yuan in the first half of the year, a 14.6 per cent rise from a year earlier. But this is far behind a 30.5 per cent year-on-year increase in the first six months of last year.
Despite the dramatic slowdown in growth, the figure 'properly reflected China's economic development' for the past six months, Xinhua said.
The central government's tax revenue rose 10.1 per cent, signalling 'a significant slowdown' compared with 34.6 per cent in the first six months of 2004, while tax revenue from local governments grew 21 per cent, it said.
More tax concessions for exporters are partly responsible for the revenue decline.
Tax rebates on exports surged in the first half to 150.3 billion yuan, 104.4 billion yuan more than in the same period a year earlier. This alone had caused a drop of 7.3 percentage points in total financial revenue growth, Xinhua said.
The declining income from imports also played a role in the revenue slide.
'Affected by falling growth in imports, tax income from the import sector was relatively low, rising just 3.5 per cent,' it said.
The mainland's imports in the first half were 14 per cent higher than a year earlier, compared with a jump of nearly 43 per cent in the first half of last year.
Exports have remained strong, however, rising nearly 33 per cent in the first half compared with last year.
