Premier: Timing, conditions for unifying corporate income tax ripe

Source: Xinhuanet | 03-05-2007 10:13

BEIJING, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday that the timing and conditions are now ripe for unifying the enterprise income tax rates for domestic and overseas-funded enterprises to "level the playing field."

Wen made the remark while delivering a government work report to the just-opened parliamentary annual session, which will deliberate the draft law on the equalization of corporate income tax for both domestic and foreign companies.

The unified income tax rate will help foster a fairer, more regulated and transparent taxation system for all kinds of businesses, and help improve the quality and standard of China's utilization of foreign investment, Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the annual session of National People's Congress (NPC), the national parliament, said Sunday.

"The draft law will neither cause massive influence on foreign companies or affect their enthusiasm of investing in China," Jiang said.

The draft suggests to unify the income tax rates for domestic and foreign companies at 25 percent, according to earlier reports.

The lawmaking process, initiated last December, aims to ease years of criticism that the original dual income-tax structure is unfair to domestic enterprises.

Editor:Liu Fang