Minister of Finance Xiao Jie responded to several public concerns on replacing business tax with value-added tax and answered questions regarding tax reduction, cultivation of new growth engines, improving the taxation system and tax legislation.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, implemented the replacement of business tax for certain industries on May 1, and required tax reductions for all industries.

According to Xiao, who became Finance Minister in November, the total tax reduction from January to November last year had reached 469.9 billion yuan ($67.6 billion).