China to Further Cut Taxes and Red Tape, Li Says

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to further cut taxes, administrative fees and red tape in an effort to support the real economy, according to a government statement on Friday.

Li also called for speedy efforts to build a “market-oriented, legalized and internationalized” business environment. The premier made the remarks at a meeting with entrepreneurs in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, one of the largest clusters of private enterprises in the nation and home to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Both private and state-owned enterprises are “important components” of the economy, Li said.

The remarks followed president Xi Jinping’s pledge on Friday that the nation will “unswervingly” encourage, support and protect development of the private economy, while at the same time encouraging SOEs to be “stronger, better and bigger”.

Separately, Finance Minister Liu Kun said total tax reductions scheduled for this year will exceed 1.3 trillion yuan ($189 billion), higher than the 1.1 trillion yuan target set at the beginning of the year, in order to fend off pressure from escalating trade tension with the U.S., the state-owned China Daily newspaper reported on Friday.

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