China's nationwide fiscal revenue last year surged to a new record of 10.37 trillion yuan ($1.64 trillion), an increase of 24.8 percent over a year earlier, according to the country's Ministry of Finance Friday.
The ministry said the strong fiscal revenue growth in 2011, which previously was budgeted at 8 percent, reflected the country's rapid economic growth, rising prices of consumer products, and profits generated by companies.
The country last year saw its economic growth hold at 9.2 percent however, which was much lower than the government's 24.8 percent revenue growth.
According to the ministry's data, revenues of corporate income tax, personal income tax, value added tax and consumption tax on imported goods and tariffs all increased more than 25 percent, with the corporate income tax jumping 30.5 percent from a year earlier to 1.68 trillion yuan.
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"Compared with other countries, the growth difference between fiscal revenues and GDP is too big," Liu Shengjun, deputy director of Lujiazui International Finance Research Center at the China Europe International Business School, told the Global Times.
Liu said local governments, which do not generate economic products directly, have collected too large a share of the national wealth. Considering the fast growth of fiscal revenues, cutting taxes is one of the goals in the country's economic system reform.
Although the authorities lifted the personal income tax threshold for individuals from 2,000 yuan to 3,500 yuan in September last year, the country still saw its personal income tax revenues increase by 25 percent.
But the growth rate of fiscal revenue has witnessed a decreasing trend on a quarterly basis, from the first quarter's 33.1 percent growth to the last quarter's 10 percent growth.
"That demonstrates that on-going corrections in the real estate industry, financing difficulty for small and medium-sized companies, as well as the easing inflation have all impacted the country's fiscal revenues," said Liu, adding that he thinks the hard landing risks of the world's second-largest economy may rise if the central bank does not change the current tightening monetary policy in time. Â
According to the ministry's announcement, the year's fiscal expenditures stood at 10.89 trillion yuan, an increase of 21.2 percent from 2010, creating a fiscal deficit of 519 billion yuan, lower than the budgeted 900 billion yuan.
The country's education expenditure accounted for 14.8 percent in last year's fiscal expenditure picture, money going into medical care 5.8 percent, and social securities and employment 10.2 percent.
The ministry did not disclose the sensitive expenditures on "three publics" - government spending on their international travel, feasting and vehicle purchase and maintenance - which is believed to reflect the governments' transparency, as well as their determination to crack down on corruption.
