China fines ultranationalist blogger Sima Nan US$1.2 million for tax evasion

Chinese authorities have fined ultranationalist blogger Sima Nan more than 9 million yuan (US$1.2 million) for tax evasion, state media reported.

Tax authorities in Beijing had detected tax fraud through big data analysis and investigated his case, state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday. The authorities reportedly found that from 2019 to 2023 Sima had under-reported 4.62 million yuan (US$638,000) in taxes using methods such as concealing income and making false declarations.

Additionally, he owned a film and television planning centre in Beijing and had underpaid 753,200 yuan in corporate income tax by fabricating costs and “illegally benefiting from preferential policies for small and micro enterprises”, the report said.

The state media outlet said the Beijing Municipal Tax Service had fined Sima and his company a total of 9.26 million yuan according to law, it said.

Sima, whose real name is Yu Li, has more than 50 million fans across social media platforms in China, including on Weibo, Douyin and Toutiao. His accounts went silent from November.

Sima first rose to national fame in the 1990s with his criticism of Falun Gong, a spiritual group Beijing had declared a cult and outlawed. He had been active and vocal for more than two decades and was known for his nationalistic, anti-West stance.

  

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