Beijing's fiscal revenue down 12.3 pct in Jan.-April

Beijing's general public budget revenue went down 12.3 percent year on year to over 197.7 billion yuan (about 27.8 billion U.S. dollars) in the first four months this year, official data showed.

From January to April, the value-added tax (VAT) income slumped 23.7 percent year on year to more than 58.3 billion yuan, and the enterprise income tax declined 19.4 percent year on year to nearly 39.2 billion yuan, according to a report released by the Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau on Thursday.

The decrease in the VAT income was primarily driven by the expanded VAT reduction and exemption of small-scale taxpayers this year, and the carryover effect of a VAT rate cut policy in the previous year, the bureau said.

In the same period, the general public budget expenditure reached more than 267.9 billion yuan, realizing 38.1 percent of the annual budget.

The fiscal expenditures maintained rapid growth in sectors related to COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control. In the past four months, the fiscal spending in health totaled about 19.98 billion yuan, up 12.8 percent year on year, and the fiscal spending in social security and employment rose 23.2 percent year on year to over 52.7 billion yuan. Enditem