The revocation of agricultural tax is only the first step towards further boosting the country's agricultural development, says an article in the Modern Life Daily. An excerpt follows:

It has been reported that the government will completely free farmers from agricultural tax from next year and the country's top legislature is working to annul the agricultural tax regulation.

The announcement about exemption from the agricultural tax is indeed a piece of inspiring news. Statistics indicate that in 1950, agricultural tax accounted for 39 percent of the country's total fiscal revenues. But the figure slumped to only 1 percent in 2004.

Over the past few decades, the proportion of agricultural tax in national income has been on the decline. Thus not collecting the agricultural tax from farmers will not impact the country's finances significantly.

On the other hand, the declining share of the agricultural tax demonstrates the sluggish development of the sector over the past few decades, while other industries have been booming.

Freeing farmers from agricultural tax means lightening the burden on their shoulders, but helping agriculture catch up with other industries still requires preferential policies from the government.

It is well known that the country's agricultural sector has been confronted with severe challenges since China's accession to the World Trade Organization. Due to a low input and output ratio, more and more farmers have lost interest in agriculture and poured into cities to try to make a living.

Obviously, freeing farmers from agricultural tax serves as an important step towards recovering their confidence in farming. But nevertheless, China still has much to do before it solves every problem. There are still a lot of policies and systems that discriminate against farmers. They do not enjoy as many benefits as their urban counterparts. We must capitalize on this positive decision.

(China Daily December 28, 2005)