个税起征点提高到3500元

全国人民代表大会常务委员会通过了最新版本的个人所得税法.结果出乎许多人的预料,将个税起征点提高到3500元,而不是先前的3000元.

China's top legislature has passed an amendment to personal income tax law, which raises the monthly tax exemption threshold from 2,000 yuan to 3,500 yuan. This new regulation will take effect from September.

The adjusted threshold is 500 yuan greater than the amount originally proposed in previous drafts in the first and second reading. And the income tax brackets are cut from 9 to 7, with the lowest bracket reduced from 5% to 3%.

Owing to the tax adjustment, a large portion of tax is relieved from the shoulders of the middle and low income earners.

If we take the example of a person whose salary is 4500 yuan, according to the new law, the amount he has to pay from September would be calculated like this: 4500 minus the threshold--3500, and then multiplies by tax rate--3%, so the person only has to pay 30 yuan every month. Compare that to the 250 yuan income tax amount he pays right now and it's a signficant reduction. The adjustment of the personal income tax is being praised by many citizens.

"Thanks to the rising of the tax threshold, we pay less."

"I'm one of the 80s generation and we have a lot of financial pressure, so tax reduction is good for us."

The reduction of the income tax is a compensation to the low and middle income earners in the current climate of rising inflation. It also sheds a big burden for the self-employed. The expert from the State Administration of Taxation, Jin Dongsheng, says that about 60 million people don't have to pay income tax any more.

"The adjustments of the individual income tax law show the government is trying to ease the financial burden for middle and low income earners, and that they are taking the public's view into account. If the threshold is too high, it'll damage the public's awareness of paying taxes. "

It's reported that more than 92 percent of wage earners don't have to pay income tax.

Experts say it is a step forward in the country's tax reform, but some of them, including Jin Dongsheng, also analyze that china's personal income tax still needs further adjustments in order to suit citizens' income structure.

"China's personal income tax should adopt both unified and classified means in order to better adjust income distribution and solve the problems caused by income diversity and varied household burdens. With all these taken into account, it would make a fair society."

Tax is reduced, which means that the disposable income of middle and low income population has risen.

Hopefully we can see a expanding domestic demand in the near future.

For CRI, I'm Zhao Kun.