China: Getting Back At the Taxman

With more Chinese making more money than ever, thanks to the country’s economic reforms, Peking is trying to streamline the collection of taxes. Now ordinary Chinese have begun to vent their spleen at the taxman. The China Daily reported last week that in several provinces testy scofflaws turned on tax collectors with bricks and knives. In Shaanxi province, the paper said, a “gang of lawless ruffians” stormed a tax office, seriously injuring several employees. Peking has vowed swift punishment for those guilty of “assailing tax cadres.”