Shanghai Daily news

The city government expects its revenues to grow by almost 14 percent this year compared with 2004, while expenditures will only rise by a little under 10 percent, Liu Hongwei, the city's budget director said yesterday.
She told the Shanghai People's Congress yesterday that the city's expenditure will grow by 9.8 percent this year, with more money spent on education, science and technology, and public health.
The shanghai Finance Bureau director also said the city expects its revenues to hit 127.32 billion yuan (US$15.3 billion) this year, up 13.7 percent from last year. Money generated by the municipal government is expected to grow by 12.8 percent to hit 46.32 billion yuan, while revenues from district governments and Chongming County are expected to hit 81 billion yuan, up 14.2 percent from last year.
"The additional part of our budget will be used to develop the city's eco-efficient economy and to solve issues closely related to residents," Liu told more than 800 delegates at the annual plenary meeting of the Shanghai People's Congress at the Shanghai Exhibition Center yesterday.
She said much of the additional spending will be used to upgrade and reform industrial sectors to become more ecologically efficient as well as to tackle issues such as public health, education, employment and community services. For instance, education spending will grow by 15.9 percent this year to hit 18 billion yuan.
Liu said she expects the city to take in increased revenues from several sectors this year. Taxes paid by enterprises are expected to grow 20.2 percent this year to hit 24.63 billion yuan, while property taxes are expected to grow 16.7 percent from last year to hit 10.15 billion yuan. Sales taxes are expected to grow by 15.6 percent to reach 51.16 billion yuan.
During her report, Liu said that the city government took in 111.97 billion yuan in revenues last year, up 24.5 percent compared to 2003.