Is China's Personal Income Tax Really Progressive

At present, many studies have concluded that China's personal income tax is highly progressive. But the paper argues that the conclusion is problematic and considers that the higher progressivity of personal income tax is only limited to certain income ranges. Based on the classification of three types of income ranges(narrow, moderate and broad incomer ange), the paper calculates the progressivity of personal income tax in different income context. The results show that the progressivity of personal income tax decreases gradually in all types of income ranges, and the progressivity of broad incomer ange is far below than international standards. These indicate that it is impossible to get a higher progressivity of personal income tax in the case of poor revenue integrity, and the higher progressivity of personal income tax under narrow incomer ange is just an illusory appearance.