The top salary earner in Guangdong paid 5.3 million yuan (US$662,500) in individual income tax on his salary last year, the provincial local taxation bureau has announced.

The bureau did not reveal the identity of the person. The person earned a salary of at least 10 million yuan last year, according to the amount of tax paid. Individual income tax is also payable on other income, such as dividends and deposit interest.

However, the person was not the top payer of individual income tax in Guangdong. Two persons, who were also not identified by the bureau, each paid more than 10 million yuan in individual income tax last year. The tax paid by the two covered incomes other than salary, like investment gains.

Two other persons each paid between 5 and 10 million yuan and nine paid between 3 and 5 million yuan. The tax bill for the 100th highest individual taxpayer was 960,000 yuan.

Most of Guangdong's top salary earners in 2005 were executives of foreign-funded companies and State firms. The bureau said 72 of the top 100 taxpayers were executives of foreign-funded or foreign-related companies.

Only one self-employed businessman made it to the top 100. The bureau said the person was a resident of Dongguan, who paid 1.2 million yuan in individual income tax last year.

Five of the top 10 taxpayers were executives of real-estate development companies. On the top 100 list, 34 were from the chemical manufacturing sector, 17 from the food producing industry, 11 from the service sector and seven from the machinery industry. 

Editor: Yan