Reform of reserves collected from businesses

"I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE," said Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting of the State Council, China's Cabinet, when hearing about the various kinds of funds local governments collect from construction companies as gaurantees. The State Council decided to keep only four of them and cancel all the others. Beijing News comments:

How many kinds of margins must an engineering enterprise pay a government? Dozens perhaps: a margin for credit, a margin for negotiations in case of disputes, an assessment margin, the list goes on.

Estimates put the total amount of guarantee money collected from construction companies as about 10 percent of their revenue.