Xi's 'Common Prosperity' Tack Requires Raising Taxes

Whether silencing Hong Kong dissent or countering US sanctions, China can move faster than almost any country in the world to approve complex legislation, Janet Paskin reported for Bloomberg News.

Photo Insert: Chinese President Xi Jinping has resorted to tax tactics in the name of common prosperity.

That’s why the years-long delay to pass sweeping property tax reform, called “crucial” by a top official in 2018, is so telling.

This tax reform is a key test to the much-bruited about drive of President Xi Jinping to achieve “common prosperity,” which is his idea of sharing wealth, which has been opposed by Chinese businessmen who have shunted off significant portions of their funds in offshore accounts, from Singapore to the Cayman Island.

The Chinese legislature’s most recent five-year agenda made drafting a real estate tax a priority, but now, more than halfway through, President Xi Jinping’s recently-announced property tax plans fall far short of what lawmakers hoped.

Despite their glowing claims, Chinese bureaucrats, including Xi, had admitted they have not solved the contradiction of town and country, with 400 million Chinese still poor and the earnings of the rural population a mile removed from the pay of employees in the industrial zones.

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