Chinese tax revenue rises 9.4 percent in first-half 2016

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese tax revenue in the first half of 2016 was up 9.4 percent on the year at 6.5 trillion yuan ($973.64 billion), the State Administration of Taxation said.

Taxes from the service sector rose 10.9 percent on the year and accounted for 58.2 percent of total revenues, 2.2 percent more than in the first half of 2015, the tax administration said in a statement posted to its website on Wednesday.

Chinese policymakers have long aimed to shift their economy away from dependence on investment-heavy construction and manufacturing and toward the service sector and domestic consumption.

To an extent this appears to be happening, with consumption accounting for 73.4 percent of China's first half economic growth compared with 66.4 percent last year.

Nonetheless many economists say the changing structure of growth reflects recent weakness in industry as much as rapid growth in services and consumption.