(Yicai) May 21 -- China’s fiscal revenue fell 2.7 percent in the first four months of the year, mainly because of a high base a year earlier and tax cuts introduced in the middle of last year.

General public budget revenue was CNY8.09 trillion (USD1.11 trillion) in the January-to-April period, according to figures released by the Ministry of Finance yesterday.

The government's income fell as a result of the implementation of four tax-lowering policies in the middle of 2023 and tax payments by small and mid-sized manufacturers that were differed from 2022 being included in the revenue base for the same period of last year.

When these factors are excluded, fiscal revenue rose about 2 percent, the ministry noted.

China’s general public budget revenue comprises tax and non-tax income, with the former making up most of the total. Revenue from taxation fell 4.9 percent to CNY6.69 trillion in the period, but rose 0.5 percent when the special factors are excluded.

Revenue from value-added tax, the country’s biggest tax source, fell 7.6 percent, also mainly as a result of last year's high base and tax reduction policies. Corporate tax revenue, the second-largest tax source, rose 0.9 percent.

Non-tax income dropped 7.7 percent to CNY1.35 trillion, with that from the sale of rights to develop state-owned land plunging 10.4 percent to CNY1.05 trillion, compared with a 6.7 percent decline in the first quarter.

Between January and April, fiscal spending rose 3.5 percent to CNY8.95 trillion from a year earlier, as China’s proactive fiscal policy helped to steady economic growth.

The growth in general public budget spending also partly resulted from the more than CNY8 trillion in central-to-local government transfer payments made by the finance ministry last month and the faster use of the additional CNY1 trillion of special government bonds it issued at the end 2023.

Editors: Xu Wei, Futura Costaglione