Government and Policy

NPC to mull over amendment to income-tax law

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-15 21:54

BEIJING - The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, will for the second time deliberate an amendment to the Personal Income Tax Law in an upcoming bimonthly session from June 27 to 30.

Related readings: 3,000-yuan tax threshold can offset inflation: Official

Its agenda also includes reviewing a draft law of administrative coercion, draft amendments to occupational disease prevention and military service, and several reports, according to a statement from the NPC Standing Committee chairpersons' meeting held Wednesday.

The NPC Standing Committee examined the draft amendment to the income-tax law for the first time in a bimonthly session in late April and later published the draft for public feedback.

The top legislature received over 230,000 recommendations, breaking the the previous record of received recommendations set by the draft Labor Contract Law in 2006.

The public remains divided on the amendment, which proposes the increase of the threshold for income tax from 2,000 yuan ($306) per month to 3,000 yuan.

A focal point of contention is whether the threshold raise will be large enough to fulfill the original goal of the amendment, that is to improve the living standards of the country's middle- and low-income earners and to achieve fairer income distribution.