Some experts are of opinion that tax-avoidance is illegal. Actually, the figure is far more than 30 billion yuan since personal income tax and turnover tax are excluded. Sources reveal the central government and the State Administration of Taxation are intensifying the work for rooting up the "tax avoidance".

The officials say that the expression "multinational corporations' tax evasion coming to a total of 30 billion yuan" is not quite right. The fact should be "China's tax revenue annually suffers a loss of 30 billion yuan due to the tax avoidance of multinational corporations".

Regarding the means and ways for avoiding tax, Professor Liu Heng, expert from the Central University of Finance and Economics cites the two kinds: First, the companies import raw materials at a high price but export products at a low rate. Secondly, they take the advantage of the differences in financial settlement and accounting systems of different countries and regions. Furthermore, it's common for the companies to transfer their revenue from high tax areas to the low ones owing to the different tax rates in different countries and regions.

( August 1, 2002)