Here&#x27;s my anecdote about taxes and finance in China after spending ~5 years working there.<p>I have a number of friends there who are entrepreneurs&#x2F;small business owners in China. Over the past few years, they have regularly been &quot;asked&quot; by local government to pre-pay the current year&#x27;s taxes. One friend has now pre-paid three years&#x27; worth of tax after successive approaches by tax authorities. (The conversation went like this: &quot;We need you to pre-pay this year&#x27;s taxes.&quot; &quot;But I already did.&quot; &quot;Then you can pre-pay for the coming year.&quot;)