Citizens hoping for higher income tax threshold
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Liu Huan, the deputy dean of the School of Taxation of Central University of Finance and Economics, said that the proposed PIT threshold hike is good news for ordinary people since the current 2,000-yuan PIT entry mark is already lower than the average living costs in big cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.
"Raising the PIT threshold will boost the purchasing power of low-income groups and subsidize the low and middle-income workers amid soaring prices," Liu said.
Under the current PIT law, Liu said that nearly half of China's 8.3 billion workers do not have to pay PIT, citing recent research from the Central University of Finance and Economics.
He estimated that the number of PIT taxpayers will drop by 10 percent for every 500-yuan hike in the threshold.
Chinese workers will have to wait for a while for the adjustments since the NPC did not include the draft amendment to the PIT law into its agenda for the upcoming annual session that opens on Saturday in Beijing.
According to the Ministry of Finance, China's revenue from PIT totaled 394.9 billion yuan in 2009, 63 percent of which came from wage earners. The ministry has yet to release the PIT revenue figure for 2010.
The Chinese government raised the PIT threshold from 1,600 yuan a month to 2,000 yuan in March 2008.
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