1、The Chinese government has unveiled new plans to reform income distribution amid growing public concern over the widening wealth gap.CRIs Qi Zhi has the story.The plans approved by the State Council, Chinas cabinet, includes doubling the average incomes of both urban and rural residents by 2020 from
2、 the average in 2010.The new plans include a goal of reducing the number of people living below the poverty line by around 80 million as of 2015.In 2011 around 128 million people were listed under the poverty line.The new plans also include setting up a long-term mechanism to increase farmers income
3、s.Under the proposals, farmers will be guaranteed proceeds from transferring their contracted land plots and collect higher revenues from gains in the land value.The new plans also include a cap on the salaries of managers at state-owned companies and a requirement to raise the percentage of profits
4、 contributed by state-owned firms to the government by about 5 percentage points by 2015.The government is also set to levy more taxes on the rich.The plans include an expansion of property taxes, as well as consumption taxes on more high-end entertainment activities and luxury products.Authorities
5、are also considering bringing in inheritance tax.Under the new plans there are also commitments to push forward market-oriented interest rate reforms, in order to give savers a better return and more security.Earlier this month, the National Bureau of Statistics released the Gini co-efficient, a measure of income disparity, suggesting it had reached 0.47 - well above the 0.4 level considered a trigger for social discontent.For CRI, Im Qi Zhi.
