BEIJING — China has reduced taxes for enterprises by more than 2 trillion yuan (about $315.2 billion) via its reform to replace business tax with value-added tax (VAT), Premier Li Keqiang said on March 5.

Together with measures like preferential tax policies for small low-profit businesses and an overhaul of different types of fees, Chinese market entities have seen savings of more than 3 trillion yuan in the past five years, said Premier Li when delivering a government work report at the opening of the annual parliamentary session.

As the most significant tax overhaul for two decades, VAT is replacing business tax which has been in place for 60 years, streamlining procedure, and avoiding repetitive taxing. It was piloted in Shanghai in 2012 and expanded nationwide in May 2016.