Advisors debate tax reduction   

税务总局副局长两答“中国税负偏高”

在6日全国政协经济界别分组讨论会上，两位委员分别抛出税负偏高的话题，建议政府调整税制。同在现场的全国政协委员、国家税务总局副局长宋兰回应时则表示，不能简单将国外的税负与国内比。

Beijing (CNS) -- Reducing the tax on individuals and enterprises was discussed in the ongoing sessions of China's top political advisory body on Wednesday.

The individual income tax threshold in China should be raised to ease the burden of medium income earners, who are the main consumers, said Gan Lianfang, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and president of Beijing Xingpai Group, a major manufacturer of snooker products.

Song Lan, a CPPCC National Committee member and deputy administrator of the State Administration of Taxation, said many factors should be considered in changing the personal income tax. A payment unit may be shifted to a family from an individual, but China still lacks administrative and technological methods to implement it, she added.

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing, also a CPPCC member, suggested cutting the 17-percent value-added tax levied on enterprises, which is higher than the approximately 7-percent sales tax in the United States.

But Song responded that it is not fair to compare those tax rates, as they have different tax systems.

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