Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you, Mr. Xu Hongcai. Next, I will give the floor to Mr. Wang Daoshu.

Wang Daoshu:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the press, good morning. First, please allow me to extend my heartfelt thanks to the friends from the press for your long-term concern and support for the taxation work on behalf of the Party committee of the State Taxation Administration and the head of the administration Wang Jun. We would also like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to the tax and fee payers for their long-term contribution to the country's tax revenue and their understanding and support for the taxation work.

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, historic achievements and changes have been made for the cause of the Party and the country thanks to the efforts of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. During the decade, the taxation system has upheld Party leadership and strengthened the building of specialized political staff. We have followed the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; thoroughly studied and implemented the important discourses and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on taxation; acquired a deep understanding of the decisive significance of the establishment of both Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era; boosted our consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, follow the leadership core, and keep in alignment with the central Party leadership; stayed confident in the path, the theory, the system, and the culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics; firmly upheld Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and upheld the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. The building of specialized political staff has been continually pushed forward, and Party leadership over the taxation work has been strengthened comprehensively.

During this decade, tax reforms have been furthered comprehensively. The taxation system has thoroughly implemented the major decisions and deployments of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and worked with the finance department to continue to advance the tax system reform and endeavor to implement law-based taxation at a faster pace. The reform to transfer the responsibility of the collection of social insurance premiums and non-tax revenue was launched in a steady manner. The reform of the administration system for tax collection, which started from a cooperation of different services and moved toward their merging and integration, has led to an optimized, efficient, and unified administration system for the tax system and thus ensured a better play to the fundamental, pivotal and safeguarding role of tax in state governance.

During this decade, the taxation department has borne in mind the big picture and served development. Always committed to doing a good job in managing Party affairs, handling taxation work, and building a good team, the taxation system has achieved marked results in actively serving the overall economic and social development and played an increasingly notable role in serving the state governance system and the modernization of the governance capacity, and the international influence of China's taxation has kept growing. Here I would like to introduce several sets of data to demonstrate the achievements of the taxation department in serving economic and social development during the decade.

The first set of data: During the last decade, the taxation department organized the collection of 110 trillion yuan in tax revenue, providing a solid financial guarantee for high-quality development. The taxation department has all along followed laws and regulations in organizing tax collection and resolutely opposed the excessive collection of taxes and fees. It has fulfilled the targets of budget revenue for years in a row. The national tax revenue collected under the organization of the taxation department rose from 9.5 trillion yuan in 2013 to 15.5 trillion yuan in 2021, not including export rebates, tariffs, and taxes collected in the process of imports. The accumulated total tax collection during the period was 112 trillion yuan, with an average annual growth of 6.8%. The function of tax in contributing to the fiscal revenue has been effectively brought out.

The second set of data: During the last decade, the taxation department handled 8.8 trillion yuan in further tax and fee reductions. China's tax rate decreased from 18.7% in 2012 to 15.1% in 2021. Due to a larger scale of tax and fee reduction in 2019, the tax rate that year was 1 percentage point lower than that of 2018.

The third set of data: During the last decade, the number of new market entities for which we have provided taxation services exceeded 90 million, and the vitality of market entities was effectively unleashed. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, due to the combined effect of a number of macro policies such as tax and fee reduction ones, the innovation and entrepreneurship vitality of the whole society has been constantly stimulated. The number of new market entities for which we have provided taxation services reached 93.15 million, with an average annual addition of over 10 million. The number of general taxpayers of value-added tax rose from 5.44 million at the end of 2015 to 12.38 million at the end of 2021. The effect of tax and fee reductions in nurturing business growth has continued to show.

The fourth set of data: During the last decade, the number of countries and regions covered by China's network of taxation agreements reached 112. The Belt and Road Initiative Tax Administration Cooperation Mechanism, the world's first multilateral taxation platform, was established and ranked by the International Tax Review magazine among its 2021-2022 selection of the most influential events in the tax world.

Ladies, gentlemen, and friends, we know well that the taxation department needs to continue to strengthen efforts in order to meet the people's aspiration for a better life, meet the expectation of the tax and fee payers, and particularly help businesses ease difficulties and serve the big picture of ensuring stability on six key fronts and security in six key areas in the face of the current downward economic pressure. Next, guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will continue to strive to do a good job in taxation with stronger determination and tougher measures and in a more solid manner, and set the stage for the 20th CPC National Congress with concrete actions. Thank you.