China's tax revenue is projected to exceed 2.5 trillion yuan (US$304 billion) this year, up 24 percent year-on-year, the State Administration of Taxation said in Beijing Wednesday.

The figure, which excludes customs tariffs and agricultural taxes, represents a record high for the total volume of tax revenue, said the administration.

The projected growth rate is 4 percentage points higher than in 2003, when China collected 2.04 trillion yuan in tax revenues (excluding customs tariff and agricultural taxes), up 20.3 percent over 2002.

The administration predicted that China's tax revenue will increase by at least 500 billion yuan (US$60.9 billion), also a record hike.

The administration attributed the rapid increase to the country's fast economic growth, improved efforts by tax bureaus in collecting taxes and crackdowns on tax evasion.

During the first 11 months of this year, Chinese Customs collected 433.4 billion yuan (US$528 billion) in duties and tariffs, up 28.15 percent year-on-year.

Customs tariff totaled 96.3 billion yuan (US$11.7 billion) for the period.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2004)