China's individual income tax cuts exceeded 70 billion yuan in 2023, greatly reduced the burden on its residents, while foreign trade and inbound tourism showed positive signs in the first eight months of this year, according to the latest data from the State Taxation Administration on Friday.
China has raised the bar of special additional deductions for individual income tax, covering children nursing expenses, children's education, and elderly care expenses, to further benefit its people and improve their livelihoods.
"About 67 million taxpayers nationwide have benefited from an increase in special additional deductions for individual income tax. The total individual income tax reduction surpassed 70 billion yuan (about 9.93 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, including 36 billion yuan, 29 billion yuan and 5 billion yuan, respectively, for children's education, elderly care, and nursing expenses for infants under three years old," said Shen Xinguo, director of the administration's department of tax service.
The taxation data also indicated enhanced resilience of China's foreign trade and a boom in inbound tourism.
"From January to August, the direct export tax refunds handled by taxation departments nationwide for enterprises were up 10.1 percent year on year, showing the resilience and fast growth of export enterprises. Meanwhile, tax refunds for the goods bought by overseas travelers increased by 1.5 times, showing soaring popularity of China travel among overseas visitors," said Huang Yun, director of the general office at the State Taxation Administration.
Chinese border ports saw a whopping 110 million inbound and outbound trips in July and August this year, averaging nearly 1.78 million per day, the country's National Immigration Administration said in early September.
A total of 10.89 million trips were made by overseas travelers, marking a 52.8-percent rise from last year.