In 2026, China is standing on the edge of a historical cliff. On the surface, official media continues to report day by day about the “economy stabilizing and improving” and “domestic demand continuously picking up,” making everything seem normal. However, the figures recently disclosed by the Ministry of Finance and the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress paint a completely different picture: by the end of 2025, the total government debt balance (including implicit debt) had reached 102.5 trillion yuan, with local government statutory debt of 54.8 trillion yuan and implicit debt of 6.5 trillion yuan; by the end of May 2026, the outstanding amount of government bonds had exceeded 101 trillion yuan, increasing by nearly 2 trillion yuan in just one month.
This is not evidence of sound fiscal management but a warning that the regime’s finances are on the brink of exhaustion. The structure of the CCP’s fiscal revenue is undergoing a fundamental shift – from relying on land finance, relying on export dividends, to reaching directly into the pockets of the people. The continuous decentralization of the external market, the trend of derisking the supply chain, and various trade restriction measures taken by various countries against China’s overcapacity products are all weakening China’s manufacturing export capacity.
With external blood transfusions decreasing and internal blood generation stagnating, the entire economic system can only rely on redistributing internal wealth – more bluntly put, it means frantic looting by any means necessary.
The phenomena of wealth outflows, capital flight, the exodus of the wealthy, and the wave of resignations from the Party all point to the same core fact: more and more Chinese people have voted with their feet and actions to bid farewell to this regime.
History never repeats itself exactly, but it always rhymes with similar tunes – from land reform, suppression of counterrevolutionaries, the Three and Five Anti campaigns, public-private partnerships, the anti-rightist struggles, all the way to the Cultural Revolution, the over 80 years of CCP rule have been a history of continuously searching for new targets of struggle and launching waves of purges. Today, with fiscal exhaustion, the targets of their struggles have now shifted to the wealthy, the presenters, and every ordinary taxpayer.
The two main pillars supporting the operation of local governments – land finance and export trade – have now reached their limits. The national land transfer fees plummeted from nearly 9 trillion yuan in 2021 to less than 5 trillion yuan in 2025, shrinking by nearly 50%; land acquisition scale by urban investment companies, from a peak of 3 trillion yuan in 2022, has fallen to just 1.02 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of 2025, a drop of over 60%.
The deep financial crisis of local governments is evident when looking at the books of a county-level city like Zhijiang in Hubei Province: the city had a fiscal income of 4 billion yuan last year but expenditures amounted to a staggering 5.75 billion yuan. To fill the gap, 2.57 billion yuan was transferred from higher levels, and the “non-tax revenue” surged from 540 million yuan the previous year to 1.12 billion yuan in just one year.
Such financial holes are not isolated cases in third and fourth-tier cities in China but rather a common phenomenon. With land sales revenue drying up and debt issuing space tightened by the central government, local governments are left with only one option – increasing levies on enterprises and residents within their jurisdiction.
This is the habitual logic of the regime – it does not adhere to any contracts or commitments; its only real criterion is to serve its own interests at any given moment.
Online broadcasters and self-media practitioners have not been spared in this investigation storm. The National Taxation Administration revealed that since 2021, tax authorities have handled over 360 cases of online broadcasters tax evasion, collecting over 3 billion yuan in back taxes; in just 2024 alone, inspections were conducted on 169 online broadcasters, with a total income adjustment of 899 million yuan; from January to November 2025, 1818 “high-income” individuals (including celebrity Internet celebrities) were investigated, with tax adjustments amounting to 1.523 billion yuan.
Famous broadcasters like Xi Ni (Zhu Chenhui) were fined 65.55 million yuan, Lin Shanshan was fined 27.67 million yuan, and automotive critic Chen Zhen was penalized for underpaying personal income tax by 1.1867 million yuan from 2021 to 2023, resulting in a final payment of 2.4748 million yuan, including overdue fines and penalties. Behind these headline broadcasters are numerous small to medium-sized broadcasters, freelance writers, online educators, all living in fear of becoming the next target of “precision strikes.”
This unpredictable and far-reaching audit storm, which delves back several decades, is intended to instill fear in everyone, making it easier for the regime to quash resistance and independent thinking. This pervasive sense of fear is spreading throughout society.
People are beginning to realize that under this system, no one truly owns “legally stable” property and income because rules can always be retrospectively modified, always in favor of the regime, and not the individual.
Since the slogan of “common prosperity” was put forward, the country’s leading entrepreneurs and prominent private enterprises have been under intense scrutiny. Internet platform companies are under anti-monopoly investigations, the policy for the education and training industry has been reset overnight, leading real estate companies are required to “give back,” financial bigwigs are falling from grace due to regulatory probes.
At the same time, high-income individuals are facing intensified tax inspections, with comprehensive cross-border information exchange of financial accounts (CRS) being implemented, and tighter regulations on equity holdings and family trusts, as well as discussions on inheritance tax legislation. All of this is eerily similar to the tactics of class division and land redistribution in the past – today’s “regulating capital expansion” is yesterday’s “eliminating landlords and distributing land.”
It is worth noting that this wealth redistribution is not a Robin Hood-style redistribution. The plundered wealth does not flow into social welfare but is channeled into repaying the 102 trillion yuan local debt, maintaining the operation of a massive bureaucratic system, and an endless pit of stability maintenance spending.
The middle class is also not spared: education costs for children remain high, out-of-pocket medical expenses continue to rise, the pressure of mortgage loans remains unrelieved, and various taxes and fees are simultaneously increasing, while social security payment bases continue to rise. Many middle-class families who believed they had already “made it” are surprised to find the distance between themselves and those who have never been truly wealthy ordinary people is shrinking at a startling rate.
Ordinary people cannot see any real improvements in social welfare, reduced burdens in healthcare and education, strengthened pension benefits. Instead, they witness their bank accounts dwindling while government interference in their finances increases.
This is a core feature of a devilish rule – setting up idols only to destroy them, manipulating hearts and consolidating authority. Over the last twenty years, the CCP has elevated numerous private entrepreneurs to “pioneers” of innovation only to swiftly bring them down, one after another, into the dossiers of accountability.
The most deadly part of the situation is the huge gap forming between income and tax burden. The official figures clearly show that in 2025, the nominal per capita disposable income of the country increased by 5%, but the median growth rate was only 4.4%; yet during the same period, personal income tax revenue surged to a whopping 1.62 trillion yuan, an increase of 11.5% from the previous year – which is more than double the speed of income growth.
Meanwhile, the overall tax revenue of the country only increased by 0.8%, corporate income tax increased by just 1%, with only personal income tax seeing a significant increase, up by 24.1% in stamp duty alone.
These official statistics indicate that the economy is not experiencing a strong recovery, rather, the “Jin Shui Si Qi” big data tax inspection system has been fully implemented, while internet platform companies have been forced to submit tax-related information since October last year. This has brought every penny of income hidden in the gray area into the tax net.
People’s wallets are not visibly expanding; however, the amount the government takes from the people is inflating far beyond the growth rate of their incomes. Many local governments are also increasing administrative fees and fines to cover fiscal gaps, with traffic violation fines quietly being raised, and market regulatory departments ramping up inspection frequency and penalty amounts.
This double squeeze of “slow income rise, fast-growing tax burden” is rapidly eroding the disposable income and purchasing power of ordinary Chinese families, shaking their confidence in the basic belief that “hard work will improve life.”
Many industries are experiencing the phenomenon of “having work but no money” – order volumes seem stable, but profit margins are squeezed, which ultimately leads to wage reductions, delayed salary payments, and even covert layoffs; flexible workers such as food delivery riders, and ride-hailing drivers, are facing income reductions due to the continuous increase in platform commissions.
More and more people are beginning to realize that under this system, personal diligence and hard work are no match for the systematic plundering of wealth.
A report by the international firm Henley & Partners shows that in 2024, 15,200 millionaires from China chose to immigrate overseas, making it the top country in terms of outflows; in 2023, this number was 13,500. The United States is the primary destination, attracting approximately 7,500 Chinese millionaires in just one year.
Simultaneously, demand among high-net-worth individuals in China for offshore asset allocation, overseas insurance policies, and cross-border trusts is on the rise. Notably, participants in this wave of exodus are not just the traditional “wealthy elite” but also increasing numbers of high-income professionals such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, and mid-level corporate managers who are considering moving their families abroad.
The outflow of talent accompanying capital flight is resulting in a brain drain, with many skilled professionals in technology, finance, and education fields seeking opportunities abroad through various channels.
This talent drain poses a significant threat to China’s long-term economic development potential. Capital may return after policy adjustments, but individuals who leave with their families and skills rarely come back.
When the most capable and affluent strata of a society vote with their money to leave, it is a damning vote of no confidence in the ruling regime. The continued exodus of high-net-worth individuals and the brain drain represent a deeper, more fundamental awakening – increasingly, ordinary Chinese people are not just disappointed with economic policies but have fundamentally grasped the evil nature of this regime built on hatred and struggle, and have made the choice to separate themselves entirely.
The “three withdrawals” not only signify a dissociation from the CCP institutionally but also represent a spiritual awakening and decision – a refusal to recognize the CCP rule’s evil prioritization of party interests over the well-being of the people, a refusal to be bound to the organization by oaths made in the past.
The ongoing surge of withdrawals from the CCP, totaling over 460 million as of September 1 this year, is a reflection of individuals disconnecting from the CCP and contributing to its disintegration. It is a tangible manifestation of people’s choice to confront the evil nature of the CCP’s regime and reclaim control over their destinies.
Every number reflects a specific individual and a journey of awakening: some have been chilled to the core after facing tax inspections and asset freezes; others have awakened after witnessing exorbitant levies under the shadow of local governments’ trillion-yuan debts; an increasing number have seen wealthy and middle-class families fleeing one after another, exposing the relentless cruelty of the regime towards its people.
The rising tide of withdrawals symbolizes not just a departure from the CCP but a contribution to dismantling a regime that has lost the hearts of the people, holding it accountable for its actions. History has repeatedly shown that a regime relying on fear and coercion rather than genuine support from its people is doomed to fail.
As this trend continues, with more individuals making the choice to disassociate themselves from the CCP, it creates a seismic shift that undermines the regime’s foundations. Every person who recognizes the truth, understands the direction, and cuts ties with the regime is contributing to a movement of justice that can ultimately shake the regime’s grip on power.
May every Chinese person caught in the currents of this era see the truth, understand the direction, and make a clear and sober choice for themselves and their families before the regime collapses. By distancing themselves from danger and moving forward safely, they can navigate the storm ahead.