Tax recovery reflects accelerated economic recovery

On November 15th, the Ministry of Finance released statistical data showing that from January to October, the cumulative national general public budget revenue was 18749.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%; The expenditure was 21573.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%. Overall, fiscal revenue has maintained a restorative growth, and expenditures in key areas have been effectively guaranteed.

"In the first 10 months, fiscal revenue showed a sustained recovery and growth trend, and expenditure progress was reasonably accelerated, which has a positive significance for stimulating economic vitality. The overall structure of fiscal revenue and expenditure tends to be balanced, and proactive fiscal policies have played a role in promoting economic development." said Li Xuhong, Vice President and Professor of the National Institute of Accounting in Beijing.

The stable growth of fiscal revenue is mainly due to the sustained economic recovery and overall improvement since the beginning of this year, as well as the implementation of large-scale value-added tax retention and refund policies last year, a large number of centralized tax refunds, and a low base. "The fiscal revenue maintains a restorative growth, which is in line with the positive trend of economic recovery," said Professor Bai Yanfeng from the School of Finance and Taxation at Central University of Finance and Economics.

From the perspective of tax revenue, in the first 10 months, the national tax revenue was 15784.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%. It is worth noting that some major tax categories have rebounded to varying degrees recently, with domestic value-added tax increasing by 4.1% in October, an increase of 2.3 and 2.1 percentage points respectively compared to August and September; The import tax revenue increased by 6.6% driven by the rebound of general trade imports; Driven by the recovery of industrial enterprise profits, corporate income tax increased by 3.3% and 0.6% respectively in September and October.

Fiscal revenue and expenditure are the barometers of economic operation. The latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in October, the year-on-year growth rate of most production demand indicators rebounded, employment prices remained generally stable, and the economy continued to recover and improve. "Some major tax categories have shown varying degrees of recovery, reflecting the high 'gold content' of China's fiscal revenue, especially the further recovery of market vitality, and the gradual improvement of the quality and efficiency of the operation of business entities." Li Xuhong said.

From the perspective of local revenue, in the first 10 months, the general public budget revenue of the local government was 10162.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.8%. Looking at different regions, the income of the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions increased by 8.1%, 6.1%, 12.5%, and 12.5% year-on-year, respectively. 31 provinces have generally achieved positive income growth, with 14 regions maintaining double-digit growth. Bai Yanfeng believes that the fiscal revenue of the Northeast and Central and Western regions has maintained a double-digit growth rate, reflecting a continuous narrowing trend of regional development gap.

In terms of fiscal expenditure, financial departments at all levels will continue to work hard to improve efficiency and implement proactive fiscal policies, take effective measures to reasonably accelerate the progress of fiscal expenditure, and promote sustained economic recovery and improvement. In the first 10 months, the national general public budget expenditure was 21573.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.6%. Among them, social security and employment expenditure increased by 8.7%; Education expenditure increased by 5%; Health expenditure increased by 2.9%; Agriculture, forestry, and water expenditure increased by 4.7%; Science and technology expenditure increased by 4.5%; Housing security expenditure increased by 7.8%.

"The fiscal expenditure has maintained an appropriate intensity, and a series of key areas have been effectively guaranteed, further enhancing the momentum of economic development, effectively guaranteeing and improving people's livelihoods, and laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual economic and social development goals and tasks." Bai Yanfeng said.

Since the beginning of this year, active fiscal policies have been strengthened and improved, effectively promoting the overall recovery of the economy. Recently, the state has introduced two important policies, namely, issuing an additional 1 trillion yuan of treasury bond to support post disaster recovery and reconstruction, improving disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities, and issuing some new local government debt quotas in 2024 in advance.

Li Xuhong believes that the next proactive fiscal policy still needs to continue to increase efficiency. On the one hand, it is necessary to fully leverage the driving effect of fiscal and tax policies on the demand side, expand domestic demand, and improve consumer expectations for residents; On the other hand, further stimulating the vitality of business entities, conserving tax sources, and providing guarantees for the high-quality development of the real economy.

"Overall, China's economy is maintaining a positive recovery trend, which will provide strong support for fiscal revenue growth and lay a solid foundation for achieving the annual budget goals. Next, we will conscientiously implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, strengthen budget execution management, solidly carry out various tasks of fiscal reform and development, and contribute fiscal strength to achieving the annual economic and social development goals." Minister of Finance Lan Foan said.