China has issued a total of 402.7 billion yuan (about $56.7 billion) in tax and fee cuts in the first two months of this year, and consumption has rebounded quickly since February, according to the country’s State Taxation Administration.

Photo taken in a foreign trade company in an industrial park of Jiangsu Haizhou Economic Development Zone shows employees working on a production line of cameras for a well-known brand of mobile phones. Jiangsu Haizhou Economic Development Zone in Lianyungang, east China’s Jiangsu province, has recently introduced a series of measures to cut taxes and fees in an effort to help foreign trade enterprises cope with the challenges brought about by the epidemic. (People’s Daily/Geng Yuhe)

Preferential tax policies newly rolled out this year to support epidemic prevention and control measures as well as social and economic development have helped cut taxes and fees by 158.9 billion yuan, according to Wang Daoshu, chief auditor of the State Taxation Administration.

Larger scale tax and fee policies that had been brought into effect in the previous year have led to tax and fee cuts totaling 243.8 billion yuan in 2020.

Taxation departments have introduced 54 measures in three batches to facilitate payment of taxes and fees since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Ren Rongfa, deputy head of the State Taxation Administration, said at a press conference.

Based on efforts to consolidate previous achievements, a new raft of targeted measures will be formulated to provide further support for resumption of work and production, Ren disclosed, saying that the 29th national tax publicity month will be extended, now lasting from April 1 to May 20.

Consumption is rebounding more rapidly with each passing week, according to Cai Zili, director of the planning division of the State Taxation Administration.

The average daily amount of invoices issued across the country grew from 20 percent to 82.3 percent from the comparable period last year since resumption of work nationwide, Cai revealed.

Supplies of agriculture products have quickly recovered, with the total face value of invoices issued in the agricultural sector seeing a major surge since March, according to Cai.

The total face value of invoices issued for seeds and agricultural film has reached 89.3 percent and 88.4 percent of the figure from the same period of last year, up 18.6 percentage points and 33.9 percentage points respectively from February, Cai pointed out.

The total face value of invoices issued by potash fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer enterprises nationwide has grown to 90.2 percent and 85 percent respectively from the same period last year, Cai said.

Phosphate fertilizer enterprises in Hubei province, the region worst hit by the outbreak, whose output of phosphate fertilizer accounts for 30 percent of the whole country’s, have issued invoices with a total value reaching 78.5 percent of the same period last year, Cai said.

High-tech industry consumption has recovered faster than the overall level, with total face value of invoices issued by manufacturers of dedicated devices and general equipment in the previous week rising to 88.2 percent and 83.5 percent of the same period last year.

Operators and providers of Internet platforms and information transmission services did particularly well, with the face value of invoices issued reaching 109.1 percent and 103.1 percent of the same period last year.