"Are you rich?"

Many people find it a difficult question to answer, not only because it is personal, but also because the standards for richness are diverse in China, even for the tax leviers.

But that has become the core question for China's tax bureau, as the answer should result in its policies regarding personal income tax.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, people with family incomes of more than 30,000 yuan (US$3,628) a year in addition to private homes and cars, or those, though without private homes or cars, making family incomes far exceeding 30,000 yuan a year, are deemed rich in China.

These criteria are based on a survey the bureau conducted in July 2000, on 9,956 families in 10 provinces and cities in China, including Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Hubei and Liaoning.

The top 10 percent highest income makers are grouped into the rich people, according to Professor Cao Ziwei, surveying division of the bureau.

The survey indicated, senior officials in companies and institutions account for nearly one-third of the rich people under these criteria. The other rich people are professionals (25.2 percent), freelance workers (17.8 percent), clerks (9.5 percent) and service industry employees (8.5 percent).

However, the taxing bureau's criteria set for rich people nearly double those concluded by the statistical authority.

Taxation experts leveled a yearly income of a minimum of 60,000 yuan as the identification for the rich people at a national seminar held last year in Wuhan.

However, since living costs vary in Chinese cities, regional taxation authorities are adopting varying policies.

In Beijing, the taxation bureau has grouped individuals with a yearly income higher than 100,000 yuan into the rich people and is taking close watch on them to prevent them from cheating or dodging individual income taxes.

About 30,000 people fall in this rich group in the capital, according to the local bureau.