China’s Ministry of Finance Releases Tax Revenues for Q1 2012

China’s Ministry of Finance released the country’s tax revenues for the first quarter of 2012 [last] Tuesday, with highlights including year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in total revenues of 10.3 percent to RMB2.59 trillion (US$410 billion).

However, the 10.3 percent y-o-y growth rate marked the slowest pace recorded in the past three years – down 22.1 percentage points from the year-on-year growth rate recorded in the first quarter of 2011. The growth rates of domestic VAT, excise tax, business tax and corporate income tax dropped 17.8 percent, 6.4 percent, 18.7 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively, compared to the y-o-y growth rates seen in the first quarter of 2011.

That being said, the majority of China’s key tax items still saw positive (albeit moderate) y-o-y growth this past quarter. One notable exception is total individual income tax revenues, which failed to hit the levels recorded in the first quarter of 2011, decreasing by 6.2 percent y-o-y.

Big ole’ disclosure here: This publication, and the consulting firm associated with it, are clients of mine.

The U.S. Leads The World In R&D, But For How Long?

China already has plans to focus on exciting but vague ideas now — like green energy and bio- and nanotechnology — that will most likely become products in the 2020s. And if U.S. government labs, university departments and corporate researchers aren’t already on top of the next generation of breakthroughs, the country will very likely fall behind in 10 or 20 years when those innovations become marketable products. Our global competitiveness is based on being the origin of the newest, best ideas. How will we fare if those ideas originate somewhere else?

The answers range from scary to scarier. Imagine a global economy in which the U.S. is playing catch-up with China: while a small class of Americans would surely find a way to profit, most workers would earn far less, and the chasm between classes could be wider than ever.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to prevent this trend.

China Creates New Agency to Regulate the Internet

infoneer-pulse:

A powerful arm of China’s government said Wednesday that it had created a new central agency to regulate every corner of the nation’s vast Internet community, a move that appeared to complement a continuing crackdown on political dissidents and other social critics.