DOMENICO D'AMICO

 Il sistema tributario cinese

213

Settembre-Dicembre 2006

Anno LXXI    n. 3

Summary – In this work we described the difficult process through which China has managed to set up a tax system more in keeping with the growing role of market forces in the economy and the increasing liberalization of trade policies (testified to by China ’s recent accession to the WTO). For ease of exposition and in line with historical development, we distinguished two phases, extending from 1978 (the beginning of the so-called reform era) to 1994 and from 1994 to present days, respectively. In particular, we described the institutional details of major taxes and provided some numerical data for the period 1991–2004. However, as noted in the final section, in spite of China’s notable achievements also in taxation (with regard to both structure and administration), there are still several weaknesses in the Chinese fiscal system which request: a) the correction of disproportionate weight of indirect taxes; b) the reform of production-type Vat  c) the reform of preferential treatment for foreign-invested enterprises; d) changes of the personal income tax; e) a better balance between expenditure responsibilities and revenue assignments at sub-national level.