Securities transaction stamp tax revenue in the first two months reached 49.9 billion yuan, up 110% year-over-year.

Data released by the Ministry of Finance on March 19 shows that in the first two months of this year, the national general public budget revenue reached 4.42 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%, marking a steady start; the national general public budget expenditure was 4.67 trillion yuan, up 3.6% year-on-year, with key sector expenditures effectively guaranteed.

The data indicates that in the first two months, the national tax revenue was 36,393 billion yuan, a slight increase of 0.1% year-on-year; non-tax revenue was 7,761 billion yuan, up 3.4%. Among these, securities transaction stamp duty was 49.9 billion yuan, an increase of 1.1 times compared to the same period last year. The Ministry of Finance stated that this was mainly due to active stock market trading and increased transaction volume.

Looking at different tax types: domestic value-added tax (VAT) grew by 4.7%, mainly driven by growth in industrial services and a narrower decline in industrial producer prices; import VAT and consumption tax increased by 12.9%, primarily due to rapid growth in foreign trade imports at the beginning of the year; export VAT and consumption tax refunds totaled 5,569 billion yuan, an increase of 494 billion yuan or 9.7% year-on-year, strongly supporting export growth.

Some tax categories experienced a slowdown in growth. For example: domestic consumption tax decreased by 6.2%, mainly due to a decline in cigarette consumption tax; corporate income tax fell by 3.9%, mainly because last year’s preliminary tax payments and settlement income tax were recorded earlier, raising the base; personal income tax decreased by 6.9%, mainly because last year’s Spring Festival was earlier, with year-end bonuses and dividends for 2024 paid earlier, leading to higher tax revenue early on, while this year’s Spring Festival was in mid to late February, so related taxes will be recorded later, causing a noticeable rebound in personal income tax in March.

From an industry perspective, tax revenue from equipment manufacturing and modern service industries continued to perform well. Data shows that in the first two months, tax revenue from computer and communication equipment manufacturing increased by 9%, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing by 9.5%, scientific research and technical services by 15.8%, and cultural, sports, and entertainment industries by 9.8%.

The data also shows that in the first two months, the national general public budget expenditure was 4.67 trillion yuan. Among these, social security and employment expenditure increased by 8.6%, health and wellness expenditure by 17.3%, housing security expenditure by 9%, urban and rural community expenditure by 7.7%, and energy conservation and environmental protection expenditure by 5.4%.

The Ministry of Finance stated that all levels of fiscal authorities continue to implement more proactive fiscal policies, maintain necessary expenditure levels, continuously optimize the expenditure structure, make good use of various funds, reasonably accelerate spending progress, and ensure key expenditures such as “three guarantees” at the grassroots level are well protected.