China's tax revenues hit 1.93 trillion yuan (US$241.25 billion) in the first six months, a rise of 22.3 percent over the same period last year, according to the State Administration of Taxation.

The figure was 352.2 billion yuan more than the same period of last year.

An administration official attributed the rapid growth of tax revenues to the "stable and fast" development of the nation's economy.

He said the strict implementation of tax policies had also played an important role, predicting that tax revenues would continue to rise steadily.

The growth rate of the tax revenue, which excluded revenues from customs tariffs and the farming sector, was in step with the development of the nation's economy, said the official.

China's income tax revenues from foreign-invested enterprises, domestic enterprises and individuals amounted to 546.5 billion yuan in the first half, an increase of 27.8 percent from the same period last year.

Increased revenues from customs tariffs, stamp duties on stock trading and motor vehicle purchase taxes also contributed to the growth.

During the period, the country's customs collected 239 billion yuan worth of tariffs, a rise of 21.1 percent.

Revenues from stamp duties on stock trading amounted to 7.2 billion yuan, up 144.3 percent, and motor vehicle purchase taxes rose 23.6 percent year on year to 33 billion yuan.

These combined three revenue sources totaled 52.3 billion yuan in the first half, accounting for 14.8 percent of the country's total, and helped push up the nation's tax revenue growth by 3.3 percentage points.

Revenue from the country's economically-developed east rose22.7 percent to hit 1.38 trillion yuan, while those from central China increased by 20.3 percent to 297.2 billion yuan, and the taxes from the less developed west rose by 22.5 percent to stand at 260.3 billion yuan.

Tax revenues from the east accounted for 71.1 percent of the country's total, central China 15.4 percent, the west 13.5 percent.

(Xinhua News Agency July 8, 2006)