The draft corporate income tax law to be delivered at China's upcoming
parliament annual session will not affect foreign companies' enthusiasm for
investment in the country, a spokesman for the session said here on Sunday.
"The draft law will neither cause massive influence on foreign companies or
affect their enthusiasm for investment in China," said Jiang Enzhu, spokesman
for the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's Congress, at a press
conference one day before the opening of the annual meeting of the Chinese top
legislature.
Also to be discussed and reviewed at the 11.5-day meeting will be the draft
property right law.
The draft corporate income tax law sets a unified income tax rate for
domestic and foreign companies at 25 percent after years of criticism that the
tax policies are unfair to domestic companies.
China currently adopts dual income-tax structures, under which domestic
companies pay income tax at a nominal rate of 33 percent, while their foreign
counterparts -- who benefit from tax waivers and incentives designed to
encourage investment in China -- pay an average of 15 percent.