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Red tape blasted
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MEMBERS of the city's top consultative body launched a bold attack on government red tape during its annual session on Monday, a day before lawmakers met to approve the city's new five-year development plan and the municipal government's work reports.
Deng Qinghui, member of the Third Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told his colleagues at a group discussion on Monday that his company received “abnormal treatment" from the State tax authorities in Shenzhen after he sponsored a motion to speed up the tax rebate process to exporters last year.
Deng said his firm, Shenzhen Huihuang Electronics Company, has been disqualified for tax rebates following three “abnormal" investigations by several departments of the State Taxation Bureau from last July to December.
Huihuang's accounts and relevant documents were confiscated by officials of a tax investigation team last December, which was later dissolved, Deng said, adding the company has been unable to claim tax rebates even though no investigative verdict has been released.
More than two million yuan (US$240,000) in tax refund payable to the company has become overdue since last July, dealing a devastating blow to his firm, he said.
Although the taxation departments concerned denied Deng's firm was singled out because of his motion, many speakers joined Deng in the verbal attack. Some even said Deng's case might not be as simple as a result of bureaucracy, and others hinted motion sponsors of the advisory body have been retaliated against.
Deng's speech was not the only spear hurled at government departments. Deng's colleagues from Hong Kong and Macao blasted bureaucracy in the checkpoints and the arduous business registration process.
“A passenger could wait for more than one hour to be cleared at Shenzhen's checkpoint when it normally takes him two minutes on Hong Kong's side," Sun Qilie answered Zhang Gaoli, secretary of Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, who asked how long it takes to pass the checkpoints.
Zhang himself was infuriated when he was told no officers were on duty at the special passage designated for national, provincial and municipal legislators and CPPCC committee members from Hong Kong and Macao.
In response to complaints about tedious application procedures to obtain business licences, Mayor Yu Youjun vowed to further streamline approval procedures and punish any official who seeks personal gains at the cost of the city's interests.
Both Zhang and Yu indicated their resolution to further make the municipal government more efficient and the city more appealing to investors.
At the beginning of this month, the municipal government simplified 92 approval procedures and 80 verification items to start a campaign dubbed “speeding up the government" in order to save the city from an economic slowdown triggered by falling exports and stagnant foreign investment.(Lin Min)
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