Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by continuations 2757 days ago
The Chinese government also has other sources of income:

1. Land sales. This is a major one especially in big cities

2. State-owned enterprises. These are immensely profitable because they are often oligopolies. Imagine the US government owning Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, AIG, Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Fidelity, AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, T-Mobile, Exxon Mobile, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Philip Morris, etc etc
2 comments
oh-kumudo 2757 days ago
There is also a big distinction as regards to which tax goes to central government which goes to local(provincial) government. I believe the land sales mainly goes to the latter, while VAT is split between those two.
link
seanmcdirmid 2757 days ago
Not all SOEs are profitable, especially those typically owned by local governments. Some of them only survive through continuous loans. Anyways, SOEs that are profitable try to keep as much of their profits as they can through various games.
link