BEIJING — China’s continued efforts to reduce taxes have benefited more businesses and individuals, an official said.

New tax cuts saved 341.1 billion yuan ($50 billion) for tax payers in the January-March period, Cai Zili with the State Taxation Administration said on April 23 at a press conference.

Cai said the cut was more inclusive and sharper than before as tens of millions of small firms started to be covered by favorable policies and private enterprises became the major beneficiary.

Besides, more than 90 million people had been exempted from the tax on their salaries by March.

The bulk of the reduction, more than 265 billion yuan, came from measures effective since the middle of 2018, including reforms in individual income tax and the lowering of value-added tax rates.

Policies rolled out this year, including tax breaks for small and micro firms and a further deduction of individual income tax, led to a reduction of around 72.2 billion yuan.