CHINA

Unified Income Tax Planned: The government will implement the new tax system for all corporations and individuals early next year, Finance Minister Liu Zhongli said on state television. The tax plan is a key element of the Chinese Communist Party’s blueprint for the nation’s transition to a market economy. Income tax will become the main source of revenue for state coffers, Liu told China Central Television. All domestic companies and individuals will be subject to a single national rate, he said. China is determined to reverse the string of 14 budget deficits suffered under a hodgepodge of taxes and levies. State revenue as a share of gross national product has fallen from 26.7% in 1979 to 16.6% last year, the official Economic Daily reported last month.