China's tax revenues are expected to surpass 4.9 trillion yuan (668.8 billion US dollars) in 2007, up 30 percent year on year, the country's top tax official said on Tuesday.

Addressing a national conference on taxation, Xiao Jie, State Administration of Taxation director, said this figure represented one of the highest annual tax growth rates since the country adopted reform and opening up policy in 1978. He ascribed the robust increase to stable economic growth and a rapid increase in industrial enterprise profits.

Tax revenue mix had experienced an obvious shift in recent years. The share of turnover tax in the total tax revenue structure dropped from 57.6 percent in 2002 to 49.5 percent in 2007. The contribution of income tax had a bigger economic macro-control effect and increased from 22 percent in 2002 to 26 percent in 2007, Xiao said.

He predicted tax revenue would continue to rise in 2008 due to strong economic momentum.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2007)