Income growth contributes to higher income tax revenue

China collected 355.48 billion yuan of personal income tax revenue in the first half of this year, up 92.9 billion yuan or 35.4 percent year-on-year, said the Ministry of Finance on July 14, 2011.

A great surge in the amount of personal income and strengthened measures to levy and manage personal income tax were the main reasons for the growth, according to the ministry.

"The increase of the personal income tax revenue is in line with the development speed of China's economy," Sun Yudong, a professor at the Public Management School of the Renmin University of China, told People's Daily.

"The original personal tax threshold of 2,000 yuan was made in 2007, while income of rural and urban residents has increased a lot each year since then, which makes the soaring personal income tax revenue," Sun said.

Chinese people's tax burden is not heavy, but within a reasonable range, reported the paper, citing Wang Chaocai, the deputy director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science under the Ministry of Finance.