Several deputies to the National People's Congress, along with many Chinese scholars, are calling for the reform of personal income taxes in the country so as to cut individual tax burdens and to invigorate consumption.
Zhang Yubiao, a deputy to the 12th National People's Congress and a grassroots party official from Shenzhen, is one of them.
Zhang says he has submitted a motion during the annual session of China's top legislature, urging authorities to accelerate family-based income tax reform.
He proposed to replace the current tax system, based on taxpayers' personal income, with a more sophisticated system that is based on the average per capita disposable income of households.
Zhang is also calling for tax exemptions for major household expenditures, such as education expenses, housing loans, and expenses for raising kids or elderly care.
He says a tax declaration system must be established so as to support a new taxation system that considers households as basic units.
The deputy adds that before the taxation reform is completed, the exemption threshold for personal income taxes should be raised.
Back in 2011, the Chinese government raised the exemption threshold for the country's personal income taxes to 3,500 yuan (around 536 US dollars) from 2,000 yuan. The move is aimed at benefiting middle and low-income.
However, several NPC deputies, including Zhang Yubiao, along with a number of scholars, believe the measure could be expanded, as more than 60 percent of China's personal income tax revenues were contributed by wage-earners.
