China's Jiangsu introduces policy package to boost economic rebound

NANJING -- East China's economic powerhouse Jiangsu province has unveiled dozens of proactive policies, including bolstering fiscal and tax support for enterprises to expand the momentum of economic recovery.

For taxpayers in fields like accommodation and catering, sports and entertainment, transportation, tourism, retail, and warehousing, the real estate tax and urban land use tax in the first half of 2023 will be temporarily exempted, according to a document issued by the provincial government.

The government said the preferential measure was first introduced in 2020 to support industries and small-scale taxpayers seriously affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and enterprises across the province were exempted from nearly 8.6 billion yuan (about $1.3 billion) last year.

"The policy expired at the end of 2022 after a three-year implementation, but we decided to extend its implementation period, satisfying the continued demands of enterprises and hoping to promote the economic operation," said Huang Zhongmao, an official with the provincial finance department.

It is preliminarily estimated that the tax reduction for the market entities this year will exceed 4 billion yuan, Huang added.

Preferential policies will also help accelerate the digital transformation processes of industrial enterprises in Jiangsu, a key manufacturing hub in China.

The province will allocate more than 200 million yuan for the free diagnosis of traditional industrial enterprises and actively support the projects of high-end transformation and industrial Internet, according to the provincial government.