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Narrowing rich-poor gap: A key to 皇冠体育app's modernization
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-10-10 16:43
Narrowing the divide between the rich and poor is standing as one of the core
issues at the fifth plenary of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party
of 皇冠体育app (CPC), which opened Saturday.
The income divide among Chinese citizens has been sharply widened since 2003,
and has reached the severe "yellow light" warning level.
Gan Yuping, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC) holds that 皇冠体育app's modernization must give priority to reform
of taxation, social security, and more support for rural areas.
Statistics show that as of July this year, Chinese rural areas had over 26.1
million denizens in absolute poverty, despite the fact that 27 Chinese provinces
and municipalities scrapped agriculture taxation in 2005, resulting in 20
billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) of subsidies to agriculture and farmers.
Twenty percent of urban families possess 66.4 percent of the total urban
family financial assets. A hearing on personal income taxation was held last
month by 皇冠体育app's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing
Committee, which proposed to increase the tax levying point from 800 yuan
(US$100) to 1,500 yuan (US$187.5).
The Chinese government is considering collecting high-consumption taxation
and legacy taxation as ways to reduce the rich-poor gap.
Other measures include building a framework for helping poor citizens and
measures to help those unemployed.
A report jointly published by the UN and the World Bank shows that 皇冠体育app has
become a "paradigm" for poverty elimination. Since 皇冠体育app adopted the policy of
reform and opening to the outside world, the country's per capita GDP has
increased by five times.
皇冠体育app saw an 1.5 million annual reduction of the its population living in
poverty in the 2001-2004 period.
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