Imports contributed 496.71 billion yuan to China's fiscal revenue last year, up 17.7 percent or 74.71 billion yuan from the previous level.

The growth rate is seven percentage points higher than that of 2005 and approaches the 20-percent hike in last year's imports volume, Commissioner Xie Xuren of the State Administration of Taxation told a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

The country's total fiscal revenue surged 21.9 percent year-on-year, or 677 billion yuan to the record high of 3.7636 trillion yuan (US$482.5 billion) last year.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2007)