Several Chinese cities are "technically ready" to join the property tax pilots currently in place in Shanghai and Chongqing.
China may not expand experimental property taxes to more cities in the near future because of inadequate planning and law making.
The Chinese government is "actively studying" an expansion of the experimental property tax program in the country.
China will expand its property tax trial to include more cities beyond Shanghai and Chongqing, and will gradually set up a nationwide property tax system, officials said.
A debate between two Chinese public figures has sparked fresh online discussion on whether real estate tax can rein in the country's skyrocketing home prices.
News of an extension of the property tax pilot scheme has spread across China through both government and non-government channels. Amid signs of rising housing prices in recent months and the warming of the real estate market, the news was not totally unexpected.
Detailed rules for the upcoming property tax are in the making, a Hubei official said on Aug 21.
China will expand its property tax policy to Central China's Hunan and Hubei provinces, the Land and Resources Daily said on Aug 20.
The State Administration of Taxation is organizing training sessions to teach its staff about a local property tax system, a step many experts are saying is meant to further expand the collection of property taxes in the country.
World Report | Chen Weihua
The State Council has decided to expand property tax to more pilot cities this year, Shanghai Securities News reported Thursday.
Authorities in Beijing are conducting "basic research" into a property tax for the city, a local housing official has said, as the market watches whether the Chinese capital will follow the steps of Shanghai and Chongqing to curb speculation.
China's State Council plas to include more cities to levy property tax in 2012 after Shanghai and Chongqing were chosen as the first pilot cities a year ago.
China is mulling further reforms of property tax and expansion of property tax trials.
In a recent article, the Economist called for a broadening of the property tax that was levied on some up-market homes in certain places in Chongqing and Shanghai last year.
China is mulling a new round of efforts to regulate the sizzling property market after the moves it imposed about a year ago to limit purchases of residential apartments effectively brought down prices, analysts said Tuesday.
On 28 January last year, Chongqing launched a long-await trial property tax to cool the red-hot housing market and curb the skyrocketing housing prices. One year after the implementation of the trial tax, the effect is obvious.