The reported income of the celebrities, who were listed as key taxpayers, has reached 15.6 million yuan (two million US dollars),according to Dongcheng District Taxation Bureau.

China has stepped up its efforts to fight tax evasion by the rich. Last month, Liu Xiaoqing, a famous film actress, was arrested on charges of tax evasion.

According to local taxation authorities, most of the stars wereable to pay their PIT by themselves not later than 10 days after the end of each quarter, while others asked their brokers to pay taxes on their behalf.

Taxation officials said a special database had been set up for those stars listed for supervision.

Tax payment terms were signed into stars' performance contractsdue to their increasing awareness of the importance of tax paying,officials said.

Actors Li Xuejian and Pu Cunxi have been cited as examples for paying their PIT by the authorities.

Some celebrities in the district not listed for tax supervisionalso reported their PIT to taxation authorities, an official in charge of the bureau said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2002)