Minister of Agriculture Du Qinglin said Monday that the fee-to-tax
reforms carried out on a trial basis in 20 provinces and cities
have been successful, with farmers' economic burden reduced by over
30 percent.
Du
said at a press conference that in 2002 the national average per
capita amount of fees or taxes was 78.7 yuan, down 29.3 yuan from
1997, or an annual average drop of 6.1 percent.
He
said that the reform has rationalized the income distribution
relations between the state, communities and individuals.
Last year the average net income of Chinese farmers was 2,476 yuan,
up 4.8 over the previous year, witnessing a recovering growth after
years of swaying.
(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2003)
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