Experts dispel worries about higher income tax

Concerns among the public about higher tax on personal medicare are due to a misunderstanding about taxing extra commercial insurance on serious illness, experts said.

State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said on Monday that personal expense on critical illness insurance shall be calculated in personal income tax, which was criticized as "grabbing life-saving money" among netizens.

On Wednesday, Xiong Guibin, associated professor of social insurance department of China Youth University for Political Sciences, said that some netizens had misunderstood the tax range.

The personal expense on critical illness insurance mentioned by SAT refers to commercial insurance bought by individuals apart from basic medicare, Xiong said.

An SAT officer said that large medicare costs based on wage-paid social insurance shall not be taxed, but any extra individually voluntary expense on health insurance shall be calculated in personal income tax.

Guan Xinping, expert on social policy, said that tax on extra commercial insurance preserves social fairness since such expenses are freely chosen by fewer people in China.