The local tax bureau of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, has fined two livestreaming anchors, Zhu Chenhui and Lin Shanshan, for evading taxes.

Announcing the decision on Monday, the local tax bureau said the two had falsely registered enterprises and falsified business records to show their personal incomes as that of the enterprises, in order to evade tens of millions of yuan in taxes.

Zhu has been fined 65.55 million yuan ($10.27 million) and Lin 27.7 million yuan.

Since online anchoring is an emerging profession, online anchors can make huge amounts of money at a speed other people cannot even think of.

Zhu reportedly evaded 30.37 million yuan in taxes, which means her income must have been at least double that amount.

In comparison, per capita disposable income in China in 2020 was about 32,189 yuan.

Which means Zhu was making money 2,000 times faster than an average person in China.

As per the tax law, the higher a person's income, the higher the taxes he or she has to pay.

But Zhu and Lin chose to evade paying the taxes, by registering fake companies.

By levying fines on them, the tax bureau has not only avoided possible loss of revenue, but also upheld the principle that everyone is equal before the law so as to ensure taxation plays its due role as an adjustor of national wealth.

Since the tax bureau used big data to identify the tax evaders, other online anchors should be warned to not even dream of evading taxes－because they cannot evade the long arm of the law.

Zhu and Lin should know that if they evade taxes again, they could face trial in a criminal court.