Illegal or unreported "gray" income is not a widespread form of urban income. It is money flowing to the elite, says a signed article in Workers' Daily. An excerpt follows:

Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of Beijing-based National Economic Research Institute, recently stated that a total of 4.4 trillion yuan ($571 billion) in gray income has not been calculated in the country's urban residents' incomes.

Wang's definition of gray income includes illegal income, irregular income, income that is questioned by accepted moral standards and income from unidentified sources.

Wang and his research team surveyed more than 2,000 people around the country over the past two years to determine the distribution of national income and gray income. Those surveyed are all relatives and friends of the researchers so the data collected is quite reliable.

But it is unfair to see the entire country's urban residents as benefiting from the 4.4 trillion yuan.

Those who have access to gray income are probably not ordinary people. For example, only officials with power can gain gray income, and department heads are the ones who can benefit from receiving unauthorized funds. Privilege is the entree for access to gray income.

Common people may gain some gray income from such sources as author's remuneration and rent from leasing houses. Most of such income should be legal. It is gray only because the earners have not paid the necessary taxes.

Therefore gray income should not be called "gray income of urban residents". In fact, it is the gray income of the privileged.

The huge amount of gray income exists because there is no complete data system to check officials' assets and supervise monopoly enterprises' incomes distribution. It is a pressing task to end the gray income of the privileged.

(China Daily 06/14/2007 page10)