Issuance Date: December 31 2017 Source: General Office of the State Administration of Taxation

As spring comes, everything comes back to life. At the turn of the year, on behalf of the State Administration of Taxation (SAT), I would like to show my deepest respect to the vast number of taxpayers, extend my greetings to all the tax officials and their families, and express my sincere thanks to friends who care about and support tax administration.

The past year has witnessed great achievements in China's tax system. Tax officials have been committed to the implementation of the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era. Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, tax officials have forged ahead to fulfill the goal of tax modernization and made new achievements in boosting tax reforms.

Coordinated developments have been achieved between the economy and tax. By adhering to the general work guideline of making progress while maintaining stability, we organized tax collection in accordance with laws, and implemented the tax break policy. In so doing, we successfully achieved the budgeted target for tax revenues and revitalized market participants to serve the economic and social development.

The tax system reform has been pressed ahead with. The VAT pilot program was rolled out nationwide and further deepened, with significant outcomes achieved. The pilot water resource tax reform succeeded in Hebei and was rolled out to 9 other provinces and cities. The environmental protection tax will be levied, and the legislation on tobacco leaf tax and vessel tonnage tax has been pushed forward smoothly.

The tax administration reform has gone deeper. The interim reform tasks laid out in the Program for Deepening the Reform of State and Local Tax Administration System were implemented, the collaboration between state and local tax authorities has been further deepened, and the quality of tax administration has improved significantly, indicating social co-governance has taken shape.

The business environment has been optimized. The reform of delegation, regulation and service has been pushed forward, with 30 measures for optimizing the tax environment adopted, and taxpayer satisfaction has been enhanced further. Besides, China was ranked No. 32 worldwide on the tax collection time indicator.

China's say in international community has been remarkably strengthened. China signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting with 67 countries, successfully hosted the Meeting of BRICS Heads of Tax Authorities with many outcomes and attended international meetings such as the fourth meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT to share the sample of and experience in China's VAT reform. Moreover, significant progress has been achieved in serving the Belt and Road Initiative and providing technical aid for external taxation.

Official teams have become more vibrant. To cultivate officials strictly, treat them sincerely and arouse their enthusiasm for taxation, measures such as strengthening CPC building in all respects, enhancing performance management, managing officials through digitalization and fostering talents through leading projects continued to play a vital role. Efforts have been made to enhance the building of grassroots organizations and overcome their weakness, with officials increasingly encouraged to forge ahead with high integrity.

We will remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind. 2018 is the first year to implement the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, we will deepen the four consciousnesses to promote the high-quality development of taxation in a new era with higher requirements, standards and performance. We will make use of the fundamental and guaranteeing roles of taxation in state governance as an economic pillar to make new and greater contribution to boosting the high-quality development of China's economy, building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and succeeding in building socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.