References to regulation of 'grey' incomes - off-the-books gains that have become a source of official corruption over the years - were changed in the version of Premier Wen Jiabao's work report finally passed by the top legislative body.
The National People's Congress said removal of the references occurred because it was too hard to define 'grey' income.
In the draft, the report said the government would crack down on illegal income and regulate off-the-books income, in a bid to 'resolutely' reverse the widening income gap to ensure better social equity.
In the version passed by the NPC yesterday, the phrases were changed to 'protect legal income', 'adjust excessively high income' and 'ban illegal income'.
With the mainland's rapid economic development, the wealth gap between rich and poor is at its widest since open-door policies began in the late 1970s. Employees in government and state-owned enterprises often take advantage of their positions to approve projects, set prices or influence other deals and then to reap 'grey income' in bribes, backhanders and other forms of corruption.
But Gao Wei, a vice-mayor of Chaoyang, Liaoning, an NPC deputy, said: 'There is no recognised definition of grey income. Many people think that grey income is not illegal, but just unreasonable. It's hard to handle this situation.'
Zhang Kangkang, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said 'regulating' grey income was too lenient a term. If the income were not strictly defined, irregularities would become rampant.