A source of confidence

The deep national coffer that China enjoys makes a good cause for optimism about the country's ability to maintain stable and relatively fast economic growth in spite of the ongoing global slowdown.

Yet, more important than the sheer size of China's expanding fiscal revenue are the structural taxation reforms that Chinese authorities are considering in order to boost domestic consumption and cut the tax burden on businesses.

Finance Minister Xie Xuren revealed yesterday that China's 2008 fiscal revenue was expected to top 6 trillion yuan ($857 billion). That will mark a one-sixth increase over the 5.13 trillion yuan that the government collected in 2007.