BEIJING -- China's tax revenue narrowed in the first eight months of the year as the country has stepped up tax cuts to boost market vitality.

The country's tax revenue totaled some 11.32 trillion yuan (about $1.63 trillion) during the January-August period, down 12.6 percent year on year, data from the Ministry of Finance shows.

China raked in approximately 2.83 trillion yuan in value-added tax (VAT) during the period, shrinking 37.6 percent from the year-earlier level.

The country launched a large-scale VAT credit refund campaign this year to ease financial burdens on taxpayers. The country's accumulated tax refunds, tax and fee cuts, and tax and fee deferrals this year topped 3.3 trillion yuan by Aug 31, according to the State Taxation Administration.

Excluding the impact of the VAT credit refunds, China's tax revenue grew 1.1 percent from a year earlier.

The purchase tax on automobiles dropped 30.5 percent year on year in the first eight months, as the government decided in late May to halve the car purchase tax for certain passenger vehicles.