BEIJING, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- China will cut taxes for the poor and crack down on cheating by the rich to close the wealth gap and ensure fairness, China's top tax collector said Wednesday.
Personal income tax revenues soared by 17.1 percent to $31.6 billion in 2006, driven by China's booming economy and tighter enforcement of collection rules, State Administration of Taxation Commissioner Xie Xuren said at a news conference.
Beijing plans to cut taxes on low-income groups and fight tax evasion by the rich "to ensure fairness and social justice and to minimize the wealth gap," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Xie gave no details of planned tax breaks.
Beijing ended taxes on farmland in 2005 in an effort to raise incomes among the 800 million people living in China's rural areas.
