In China death is certain but taxes often optional
THE well-to-do in
Please bear in mind that the rules are often bent much further for chinese nationals than for visiting foreign workers and I would not advise abstention. I would suggest that you take professional advice if you think these new income tax rules apply to you.
The government's embarrassment was evident when it missed its own deadline of April 10th for announcing the total tally of tax returns completed. But officials have estimated the number is around 1.6m. The number of those required to file is widely reported to be 6m-7m and could well be much higher. Those who have done so already are mostly wage-earners who have tax deducted from their salaries and feel they have no option but to report their incomes because they are already in the tax authorities' records.
A big difficulty for tax officials is that even some of the government's own media have broken ranks and suggested that the middle classes' obvious disdain for the new requirement may not be unreasonable. Confusingly, the annual tax return does not supersede an existing monthly requirement to report and pay tax on non-taxed income if total earnings exceed a certain threshold. A newspaper run by the state prosecutor's office argued that the tax administration had no legal authority to fine people for failing to fill out returns relating to income on which they had already paid tax.
But very few bother to pay personal income tax unless it is deducted automatically. As some Chinese newspapers have pointed out, this is partly because many Chinese believe they get little in return for their taxes. They have to pay through the nose for health care and for decent education for their children. They are also resentful that few officials pay tax, even though many have big incomes from shady dealings. Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment