個稅改革方案(gèshuì gǎigé fāng'àn): Reform plan for individual income tax

At the national financial work conference held recently, Minister of Finance Xiao Jie said that the ministry will promote individual income tax that integrates both comprehensive and classified taxation systems when he outlined the major tasks for this year, which has drawn wide public concern.

At a news conference last March, former Minister of Finance Lou Jiwei said that a reform plan for individual income tax has been submitted to the State Council, China's Cabinet, and will be submitted to the National People's Congress, the top legislature, for review in 2016.

Financial experts have said the reform plan for individual income tax is expected to be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for review in April.

According to the media, increasing the threshold of individual income tax is not the major focus of individual income tax reform this time, as "it is unfair to simply raise the threshold", said Lou Jiwei last year. The reform this time aims to establish a new taxation system that combines comprehensive and classified taxation systems.

In addition, special deductions, especially people's expenditure on education and housing loans, is expected to be cut from individuals' taxable income, in order to reasonably ease their tax burden.