An intensifying crackdown in China on the country’s ballooning live-streaming industry is exposing the loophole that had allowed online influencers to dodge millions of dollars in taxes.
On Monday, the State Taxation Administration fined Viya, a top live-streamer, $210 million, and accused her of concealing personal income and making false declarations in 2019 and 2020. Last month, authorities also fined two live-streamers in Hangzhou nearly $15 million in total for illegally booking employment income as business income.
