Commissioner of the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) Jin Renqing said here Sunday that the amended law will be tabled at a session of the country's legislative body for approval later this month.

If the session of the Standing Committee of the National People 's Congress (NPC) passes the amended law, it is likely to begin to take effect next year.

Jin said that the amended law, which is designed to protect the rights of taxpayers against abuse of power, has made breakthroughs in many aspects.

The amendment has changed and improved many aspects of the content of the original law, including the scope of application of the law, the main body of law enforcement, the supervision of tax sources, the administration of invoices, clearance of defaulted taxes, legal liabilities, protection of the rights of taxpayers and supervision of the enforcement activities of tax authorities.

Jin said that the amended law has resolved all the major legal problems that arose in the process of implementing the law over the past few years. He said that many of the stipulations in the law were taken into consideration of future development.

He noted that in the past few years, the tax authorities have had problems in the process of law enforcement. For example, some localities have levied excessive tax, mixed central tax revenue with local revenue, and given tax deductions and exemptions to companies without the approval of relevant authorities.

Jin pointed out that a small number of local tax authorities and taxation officials even violated the law in the process of law enforcement, plotting with criminals and conducting illegal inside jobs.

He asked tax authorities at all levels to effectively implement the new law once it is passed by the NPC Standing Committee.

(People's Daily 12/18/2000)