Tax and administrative fee reductions have boosted the development of China's manufacturing industry, as the sector posted a 4.6 percent year-on-year growth in total sales revenue in the first eight months, latest data from the State Taxation Administration showed on Friday.
During the period, the sales revenue of the manufacturing industry accounted for 29.7 percent of the combined sales revenue of all industries, 0.8 percentage points higher over the previous year. This shows that the "bedrock" role of the manufacturing industry in the national economy becomes more prominent and the sector is moving towards the medium- to high-end development featuring high intelligence and green development.
"From January to August, the combined value of digital technology products and services purchased by enterprises in the manufacturing industry went up 10.7 percent year on year, driving the sales revenue of intelligent equipment manufacturing growing by 11.5 percent. The total value of energy conservation and environmental protection services purchased by industrial enterprises above designated size soared 19.1 percent, reflecting the increased efforts of these enterprises in conserving energy and controlling pollution," said Dai Shiyou, head of the administration's policies and regulations department, at a press conference.
Industrial enterprises above designated size are companies with annual revenue from principal business reaching or above 20 million yuan.
The administration's data indicated that a host of tax and administrative fee reduction policies have effectively reduced burden on manufacturing enterprises.
From 2018 to 2023, newly introduced tax and fee cuts, tax refunds, and deferred tax and fee payments for manufacturing enterprises exceeded four trillion yuan (about 567 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for more than 30 percent of all tax and fee concessions, the largest share among all industries.
"From January to August this year, tax and fee cuts and tax refunds for supporting sci-tech innovation and the development of the manufacturing industry totaled more than 1.8 trillion yuan," Rao Lixin, the administration's deputy director, said at the press conference.
After the large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in campaign was launched in early March, the total value of new machinery and equipment purchased by enterprises nationwide from April to August was up 5.6 percent over the previous year.
During the period, new energy vehicle and second-hand car sales volume soared 38.4 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. The sales revenue of refrigerators, TVs, furniture and sanitary ware all logged positive growth.