The taxes to be changed include the urban maintenance and development tax, transport vehicle usage tax, real estate tax, farmland use tax for urban areas, land value increment tax and tax on occupation of cultivated land, Commissioner of the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) Jin Renqing said at a national work meeting on taxation.

Jin asked tax authorities at all levels to firmly implement all the measures of reform of local taxation as the central government puts them forward one by one next year.

According to Jin, China will gradually adopt a uniform tax rate of corporate income tax for both Chinese and foreign companies. The country will also continue to improve the personal income tax system, readjust the consumption and operation tax policies and replace arbitrary government fees with taxes.

He asked the tax authorities to guarantee smooth implementation of the newly imposed tax on the purchase of automobiles and favorable tax policies for the development of western parts of China.

(People's Daily 12/18/2000)