Property prices to drop 20% next year
THE country s property prices are likely to decline almost 20 percent next year starting from March or April, according to a report issued by the Beijing-based Renmin University of China (RUC).
Developers financial strains, due to continuous government cooling measures on the nation s red-hot real estate market and monetary policy adjustment, would drag down the real estate prices, but the property market would not suffer a hard landing, the report said.
Local govts. to get more power on taxes
THE Central Government would give local governments more say on how much taxes they collect, Finance Minister Xie Xuren wrote in a commentary published on the Web site of Qiushi, the official magazine of the Communist Party.
For general local taxes, the Central Government will allow provincial governments to adjust categories and rates of taxes, as well as give them the power to exercise tax relief, Xie wrote in an article addressing changes to China s tax system in the five-year plan starting in 2011.
