On October 25, the Ministry of Finance of China released data indicating that from January to September, the country’s general public budget revenue totaled 163.059 billion yuan (approximately $23 billion), marking a year-on-year decline of 2.2%. A ministry representative explained that after accounting for last year’s exceptional factors, such as tax deferral measures that inflated the previous year’s figures and the lingering effects of tax reduction policies, the national revenue displayed stable growth.
In the first three quarters, tax revenue was recorded at 131.715 billion yuan, reflecting a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%. The Ministry attributed this primarily to the previously mentioned exceptional factors and the continued decline in the prices manufacturers receive for their goods. Breaking it down by tax type, domestic value-added tax dropped by 5.6%, greatly influenced by these special factors. Conversely, domestic consumption tax saw a 1.6% increase, driven by growth in sectors like refined oil, tobacco, and alcohol sales. There was also a 1.1% rise in value-added and consumption taxes on imported goods, aligning with the upward trend in general trade imports. Personal income tax fell by 4.9%, largely due to adjustments made last year that increased deductions. Additionally, export tax refunds amounted to 15.663 billion yuan, an increase of 1.472 billion yuan year-on-year, which significantly bolstered foreign trade exports.
On a more positive note, certain industries showed strong tax performance. In the first three quarters, the cultural, sports, and entertainment sectors saw a remarkable 23.2% year-on-year increase in tax revenue, while the transportation, warehousing, and postal sectors reported a 12.4% growth. Although overall manufacturing tax revenue decreased due to special factors, several sub-industries thrived, such as railway transport equipment manufacturing, which grew by 7%, and shipbuilding and related apparatus manufacturing that increased by 6.4%.
The Ministry of Finance also highlighted that national non-tax revenue reached 31.344 billion yuan, marking a robust year-on-year growth of 13.5%. This increase was attributed to various government levels actively optimizing state-owned resources, leading to higher income from paid use of these resources and capital management. Collectively, these factors boosted non-tax revenue growth by 10.8 percentage points. However, the combined non-tax revenues from the general public budget, government fund budget, and state-owned capital management budget were about 6.47 trillion yuan, which represented a decline of 6.7% year-on-year. The Ministry emphasized the importance of monitoring changes in non-tax revenue and reiterated the prohibition of excessive tax collection and arbitrary fees.
Regarding expenditures, from January to September, general public budget expenditure amounted to 201.779 billion yuan, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 2%. The Ministry stated that financial departments at all levels diligently implemented proactive fiscal policies, focusing on enhancing quality and efficiency while increasing funding guarantees for basic livelihood needs and key areas. They maintained strong expenditure levels, ensuring that critical spending was adequately supported.
The data also indicated that government fund budget revenue was 30.861 billion yuan, down 20.2% year-on-year, with local land use rights sales contributing 23.287 billion yuan—a decrease of 24.6%. As of October 20, local governments issued a total of 3.63 trillion yuan in special bonds, which is 93% of the annual quota, supporting over 30,000 projects. When accounting for the remaining issuance capacity along with unallocated funds, there is a total of 2 trillion yuan in special bond funds available for deployment by the end of the year.
