Premier fulfills his promise to cut corporate burden

2017-06-08
english.gov.cn

On June 7, the State Council executive meeting, presided over by Premier Li Keqiang, decided to release a series of new measures to further cut taxes and fees. Starting July 1, the new measures are expected to save enterprises about 283 billion yuan ($41.7 billion) every year.

This was the fifth time this year the government announced such policies, which will altogether reduce the corporate burden by 1 trillion yuan, a promise the Premier made during the two sessions.

“Many countries are considering measures to cut costs, which is making the international competition increasingly intense. So we must secure stable prospects for our enterprises, to maintain our competitiveness,” Premier Li said at the meeting.

He urged related departments to make more efforts in lowering the threshold for market access, streamlining business procedures, and implementing policies to cut taxes and fees, so that enterprises can grow with less of a burden.

“Related departments must take the initiative in this round of competition, to keep China an attractive destination for investment,” he added.

Premier Li then expressed his concern about the implementation of these measures and asked each related department to take tangible actions.

He stressed that implementation should be carried out in a transparent manner to avoid arbitrary fees that might be charged by grassroots level authorities. And thorough supervision should be carried out to prevent a relapse of the practice.

Premier Li said measures on tax reductions and fee cuts have relieved the burden for some enterprises while not for some others.

“According to an inspection feedback, the measures issued by central government encountered challenges such as fees being cut in one area being built up in a different field,” Premier Li said.

He emphasized that related departments should fully understand the significance of measures such as streamlining administration, tax reductions and fee cuts, which are part of supply-side reform and a major step in further stimulating the vitality of market entities.

At a State Council executive meeting last month, Premier Li asked local authorities to publish a list of all administrative fees that are levied on enterprises within this year.

On June 7, he asked State Council departments to release a list of all government funds and fees raised by public institutions before July 1.

“Every department should show people a clear account, to prevent random charging at its source,” he said. “The government should make sacrifices for the benefit of enterprises and people.”