Why China plans to tax the booming digital economy

Huge sector has drawn government interest as revenue target but task is not easy

20210118 China livestream AP_20322378646715

China’s digital economy reached $5.52 trillion in 2019, accounting for 36% of the country’s total GDP, a think tank estimates. © AP

CHENG SIWEI, YU HAIRONG, ZHANG ERCHI and DENISE JIA, Caixin

Now that digital commerce accounts for more than a third of its economy, China is looking for ways to more effectively tax domestic e-commerce titans like Alibaba, Tencent and Didi Chuxing.

It's a huge and growing target for filling government coffers. In 2019, the nation's digital economy generated 35.8 trillion yuan ($5.52 trillion) of revenue, accounting for 36% of China's GDP, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. The digital economy has expanded much faster than the rest of the economy over the past decade.

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