Shanghai's Pudong tax revenue on sharp rise
( 2002-09-20 14:43 ) (8 )

Pudong New District, a burgeoning modern industrial area in east China's Shanghai Municipality, raked in 13 billion yuan (1.57 billion US dollars) in tax revenue during the first eight months of this year, an amount equivalent to the revenue from the whole of 2001.

This represents a rise of 30 percent over the same period last year, said sources from the local taxation bureau Thursday.

Of the total, the industrial sector contributed 5.24 billion yuan (about 631 million dollars), up 29 percent, while the service sector contributed 8.47 billion yuan (about 1.02 billion dollars), up 33 percent.

Experts believe an improved investment environment has helped attract a growing number of new businesses to Pudong since the beginning of the year.

According to the taxation bureau, these new businesses generated more than 1.5 billion yuan (about 181 million dollars) in tax revenue this year, becoming an important force in Pudong's revenue increase.

Foreign-funded ventures also contributed to the rise of tax revenue in Pudong, which benefits from preferential policies with a status similar to a special economic zone.

The district is now home to 6,200 overseas-financed businesses whose tax revenue amounted to 7.66 billion yuan (about 923 million US dollars) this year, representing a 36.6 percent increase over a year ago.