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China to abolish age-old agricultural tax
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-25 08:48
A motion on abolishing the regulation concerning the agricultural tax was
submitted to a legislative session of China's top legislature, for deliberation
and approval on Saturday.
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Two men unload cabbage from a cart in a
farmers' market during sunrise in Hefei, east China's Anhui province
December 12, 2005. China is considering to abolish its regulation on
Agriculural Tax which was en acted in
1958 in a bid to narrow the widening income divide between unran and rural
citizens.[newsphoto]
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China's more than 2,000 years old agricultural tax will be rooted out if it
is approved at the 19th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National
People's Congress, which is held here from Dec. 24 to 29.
Liu Jibin, vice director of the Financial and Economic Committee of the NPC,
said with decades of economic development, the country had established a fine
industry system, at the same time, the gap between industry and agriculture and
the gap between city and countryside have widen.
"In a bid to narrow the income divide between urban citizens and rural
citizens, it is necessary to root out agricultural tax. Moreover, abolishing
agricultural tax is conducive to building up a unified tax system for urban
citizens and rural residents," he said.
Agricultural tax emerged in China as early as in the Period of Warring States
(475-221 BC). And then, agricultural taxes were collected in almost every feudal
dynasties.
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