January 20, China's fiscal revenue grew 24.8% year-on-year to hit a record high of RMB 10.37 trillion ($1.64 trillion) in 2011, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.
Fiscal expenditure nationwide rose 21.2% year-on-year to RMB 10.89 trillion in 2011, the ministry said.
Of the total revenue, tax rose 22.6% year-on-year to RMB 8.97 trillion last year, and non-tax revenue surged 41.7% to RMB 1.4 trillion, the ministry said.
Analysts noted the steady growth of the nation’s economic strength supported the fast increase in fiscal revenue.
Su Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance's Research Institute for Fiscal Science, said rising consumer and producer prices added to tax increases and high profits of enterprises also led to more tax revenue.
Last year, the country’s corporate income tax rose 30.5% from a year earlier to RMB 1.68 trillion, boosted by the good economic returns of enterprises, the ministry said.
On a quarterly basis, the growth of the nation's fiscal revenue slowed last year, caused by an economic slowdown, personal income tax reform, inflation easing and decreasing transaction volumes in the country's auto and property sectors, it said.
Fiscal revenue growth fell to 10% in Q4 of last year, compared with 33.1%, 29.6% and 25.9% in the first 3 quarters, respectively, it noted.
The ministry said personal income tax stood at RMB 605.4 billion in 2011, up 25.2% from a year earlier. The central government raised the personal income tax threshold in September.
Fiscal revenues in China consist of taxes, administrative fees and other government income, such as fines and income from state-owned assets.
edited by Tony ZHU
