Time to shine light on tax evaders

The State Administration of Taxation failed to announce the final statistics on high earners' reporting their income by yesterday as promised. The announcement was postponed once again.

The postponement is sure to give rise to the suspicion that there is still a significant disparity between the numbers of those who have reported their income and those who should have done so.

The latest available statistics indicate that as of March 29, some 1.38 million people had reported their personal income for 2006, while the actual number of high-earners with incomes of at least 120,000 yuan ($15,000) a year - the criterion for declaration - is estimated by financial experts at more than 6 million.