China's tax revenue up 27.4% in first three quarters

China's tax revenue rose 27.4 percent year-on-year to 7.12 trillion yuan (about 1.12 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first three quarters, boosted by a combination of expanding economic activity, price increases and policy adjustments, the Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday. From January to September, revenue from value-added taxes, which account for 25.5 percent of the country's total tax revenues, increased 18.7 percent from a year earlier to reach 1.81 trillion yuan, the ministry said.Sales taxes, business and personal income taxes saw a year-on-year increase of 24 percent, 35.8 percent and 34.4 percent, respectively. On a quarterly basis, tax revenue growth rates suffered a slide, with growth in the first, second and third quarters standing at 32.4 percent, 25.2 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively. The MOF attributed the quarterly downdraft to China's slowing economic activity. China's economy expanded 9.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of the year, down from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first quarter. A series of policy adjustments introduced in the third quarter further contributed to the reduction in taxes, including a slash of imported tariffs on certain resources starting in July and personal income tax reforms that took effect in September, the MOF said.