Cut taxes to boost the economy, urges China's second richest man Zong Qinghou
Wahaha chairman suggests country's 'huge contingent of public servants' needs to be thriftier to ease the burden on taxpayers
The mainland's second-richest man, Zong Qinghou, has urged the government to cut taxes and spending to boost economic growth, according to a financial news site.
"Many small- and medium-sized enterprises cannot survive without tax evasion, which has led to 20 per cent of businesses paying 90 per cent of the nation's taxes," Sina's financial news site quoted Zong telling a group of economists and entrepreneurs at the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Summer Summit in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Saturday.
He suggested that the monthly income tax threshold should be raised to 10,000 yuan (HK$12,600) to increase people's income. The existing income tax threshold is 3,500 yuan.
Zong, 68, chairman of leading beverage maker Hangzhou Wahaha Group, said the government had never considered how to reduce taxation so as to increase ordinary people's income, the report said.
If the nation is rich, but people are poor, the country cannot be strong
The businessman, who is worth US$11.2 billion, according to the latest Forbes China Rich List, said the government "didn't spend" tax income on improving people's livelihood, and, instead, too much of it was "wasted".
He said that 51 per cent of the national revenue was spent on running the government, according to the report.