China Securities Journal:

We all know that tax and fee revenue is the financial guarantee for national governance. Could you please tell us how the tax authorities organized tax and fee revenue in the first quarter and the situation going forward? Thank you.

Cai Zili:

Thank you. Organizing tax and fee revenue is the primary responsibility of the tax authorities. We have fully implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council, levied taxes and fees in line with laws and regulations, carried out the tax and fee preferential policies, and resolutely avoided collecting unwarranted taxes and fees. In the first quarter, tax authorities nationwide overcame the impact of the epidemic at the end of last year and early this year, along with a high base from the same period of the previous year and this year's continued implementation of tax reduction policies, and collected a total tax revenue (excluding export rebates) of 4.6756 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%. This achievement marks a good start.

Mr. Wang Jun mentioned before that enterprise sales revenue increased by 4.7% year on year in the first quarter, which seems to be somewhat different from the growth rate of tax revenue. This is mainly because the tax declared by enterprises in the current month is the tax generated by their production and operation activities in the previous month. Therefore, the first quarter's tax revenue reflects economic activity of last December, and January and February of this year. In contrast, enterprises' sales revenue represents current production and operational activities, leading to a one-month difference between the two figures.

In the first quarter, tax revenue collected by tax authorities fell by 1.2% year on year in January, but increased by 0.1% in February and 5.2% in March. The increase has turned from negative to positive and is rising monthly, showcasing a positive trend of gradually improving growth. This also reflects the good momentum of China's accelerating economic recovery under a series of supporting policies issued by the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council. Looking at different levels, tax revenue at local levels increased by 2.5% year on year in the first quarter, which was two percentage points higher than the overall national level. This will help guarantee local financial resources. Looking at different regions, in the first quarter, the tax revenue of the eight provinces and municipalities that have net contributions to central finance, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong and Guangdong, grew by 2.2% year on year, which was 1.7 percentage points higher than the overall national level.

Meanwhile, in the first quarter, tax authorities collected social insurance premiums totaling 1.9116 trillion yuan, guaranteeing timely and full payment of "pension money" and "life-saving money" to the public. In addition, tax authorities collected non-tax revenue and supplementary insurance premiums, occupational annuities, and other streams of revenue totaling 1.3849 trillion yuan.

In summary, in the first quarter of 2023, tax authorities nationwide collected 7.9721 trillion yuan in tax and fee revenue (excluding export rebates). In the second quarter, the pro-growth policies issued by the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council will continue to play their role and China's economy will maintain a steady upward momentum. In addition, due to the large-scale VAT credit refunds handled in the second quarter of last year, the revenue base is relatively low. Tax revenue is expected to grow rapidly in the second quarter of this year. We will continue to organize tax and fee revenue in accordance with laws and regulations, strengthen the monitoring of revenue quality, resolutely avoid collecting unwarranted taxes and fees, and effectively build up a solid financial foundation for high-quality development. Thank you.