China sees substantial growth in tax revenue across certain sectors in Q1: official

China

China sees substantial growth in tax revenue across certain sectors in Q1: official

2024-04-23 05:39 Last Updated At：19:17

China saw a substantial increase in tax revenue in certain sectors, with the country's accommodation and catering industries seeing growth of nearly 45 percent in the first quarter of 2024, said Vice Finance Minister Wang Dongwei on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing, Wang briefed the media on the performance of tax revenue from various sectors in the first three months of this year, highlighting that tax revenue from industries such as cultural tourism and advanced manufacturing grew rapidly.

"In the service sector, tax revenue from the accommodation and catering industry, which has a high correlation with residents' consumption, increased by 44.7 percent; tax revenue from the culture, sports and entertainment industry increased by 26.7 percent; tax revenue from the transportation, warehousing and postal services industry increased by 6.8 percent; and tax revenue of the retail industry increased by 5.7 percent," said Wang.

All of this data reflects that the population's consumption vitality is being unleashed, the official highlighted.

In addition, tax revenue from the manufacturing industry declined in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, which, however, saw stable growth when striping out the impact brought by incomparable factors such as the postponed tax payments of small and medium-sized enterprises, said Wang.

"Despite the impact of incomparable factors, tax revenues from some sub sectors of the manufacturing industry still showed growth and performed well. For example, tax revenue from the railroad transportation equipment manufacturing industry grew by 9.5 percent, and that from the computer manufacturing industry rose by 6.8 percent," said the official.

China's tax revenue registered 4.9172 trillion yuan (around 678.83 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, maintaining steady growth after removing the impact of special factors.

China's general public budget revenue stood at 6.0877 trillion yuan (around 840.33 billion U.S. dollars) during the period, with a comparable growth of 2.2 percent, after deducting special factors, said Wang.

Home appliances trade-in programs boost consumption, protect environment

2024-05-03 23:14 Last Updated At：05-04 02:17

Customers in Shanghai are flooding back to brick and mortar stores to upgrade their home appliances thanks to advances in energy efficiency and the availability of subsidies offered by local government, home appliance brands and retailers.

A store in Shanghai's downtown Changning District has welcomed an average of 2,800 customers on a daily basis in recent days.

Labels on some home appliances show that customers have access to a 10 percent subsidy as long as the products they buy are energy efficient.

"With this 10-percent subsidy, I decided to make offline purchase at this store. It's cheaper after all," said one customer.

This 10 percent subsidy is offered by the Shanghai government to boost consumption.

Retailers are also offering subsidies, further driving up consumption.

"If a customer is buying a product with grade one energy label, while at the same time has an old machine for replacement, the customer can enjoy a 10 percent subsidy from the government. And our platform and the manufacturer together offer a 10 percent subsidy for trade-in goods. And we are also offering an additional seven to eight percent subsidy for sets, and a five percent subsidy for single items. So the customer can generally get a 35 to 40 percent subsidy," said Yang Xu, procurement and sales manager with a Shanghai branch of China's e-commerce giant JD.com.

Noticeably, people are willing to buy more products, especially more high-end models.

"Things are now cheaper. So I have money left for high-end products. I've spent 20,000 yuan (about 2,764 U.S. dollars) here. In the past, I would not choose a refrigerator of more than 13,000 yuan (about 1796 U.S. dollars). I would only buy one with half its price. And I was not planning to buy a TV. But now, I've decided to buy one," said one customer.

Boosting consumption is just one upside of such trade-in programs. Replacing old machines with more energy efficient models also aligns with the country's carbon reduction goals.

China has pledged to achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030, and carbon neutrality by 2060.