Shenzhen's tax reductions for private businesses top 170b yuan in 2018

Tax reductions for private businesses in Shenzhen city, a technological powerhouse, rose 10.2 percent year on year to reach 170.57 billion yuan (over $25 billion) last year, said local taxation authorities.

The figure accounted for more than 70 percent of the city's entire tax reductions for last year, according to the taxation administration of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

The private sector plays an important role in the city's economy, contributing around 70 percent of tax revenue. As of September 2018, the number of private enterprises in Shenzhen totaled 1.86 million, accounting for 96 percent of all enterprises.

To encourage the development of the high-tech industry, Shenzhen implemented a series of preferential tax policies, cutting more than 71 billion yuan of taxes in the field last year.

The taxation administration said it also worked with multiple banks to provide innovative financial services based on private enterprises' tax-paying credits in order to solve their financial difficulties.