Over the past 21 years of reform and opening to the outside world, with the rapid development of the national economy and the deepening of the reform in finance and taxation, the goal of fiscal solvency has been becoming nearer. In 1978, the state financial revenue was 113.2 billion yuan, while it reached 1,137.7 billion yuan in 1999. Especially in 1999, the Chinese government continued to implement an active financial policy, expanding the domestic market by various means, including increasing state debt investment, which played a key role in stimulating the economy.

Taxation is a major source of the state financial revenue. In 1978, all kinds of taxation brought in a total of 51.93 billion yuan; in 1999, the figure was 1,031.1 billion yuan. The accumulated taxation income was 7,435.2 billion yuan from 1979 to 1999. Since the reform, the distribution relationship between the central and local finances has been gradually smoothed, a system of tax distribution under which central finances are growing in a stable manner has been established, micro-control over central finances has been improved, and a basis for standard transfer payments has been set up. Among the state financial revenue, central finances accounted for 17.58 billion yuan in 1978—15.5 percent of the total; in 1999, the figure was 579.8 billion yuan—51.0 percent of the total.