The Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress reviewed a draft amendment to the Personal Income Tax Law on April 20. The draft proposed to increase the monthly personal income tax threshold to 3,000 yuan ($460) from 2,000 yuan ($305) as an effort to cut the financial burden on low- and middle-income groups.

The changes take into account rising living costs in China, said Xie Xuren, Minister of Finance.

China's personal income taxes totaled 483.7 billion yuan ($73.8 billion) in 2010, accounting for 6.3 percent of the country's tax revenues.