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Hopes high on income reform

According to the February guideline to reform income distribution, the government will work to double the average real income of urban and rural residents by 2020, from 2010 levels and allow faster income growth for the poor.

It will also heighten scrutiny on high-income groups, such as officials, employees of State-owned enterprises and other wealthy individuals.

According to a survey by Forbes early this year, China had 122 billionaires as measured in US dollars. A rival list in the Hurun Report in February said China had 317 billionaires - a fifth of the world's total.

Many observers say that fundamental tax reforms are essential to create a more equal income distribution. Debate has sizzled since October over the government's intention to levy inheritance taxes and property taxes to regulate income distribution.

Jia Kang, director of the Research Institute for Fiscal Science at the Ministry of Finance, noted that disagreements existed even at the government level on whether a pilot tax reform should be conducted before it is included in the law.

"Any future scheme must take into full account the widely different income levels in China, and decisions must be based on the collection and analysis of a huge amount of data," said Jia, adding that it is possible that signals for tax reform will be released at the CPC session.