China's revenue on corporate income declined 4.2 percent in July from the same month of last year, with total tax revenue up 13.8 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.

Last month, China collected 149.635 billion yuan (21.8 billion U.S. dollars) in corporate income tax, down 4.2 percent from a year earlier. The decline was attributed partly to a drastic slowdown in growth of corporate earnings.

Earlier data showed that between January and May, major industrial enterprises nationwide saw their profits up 20.9 percent year on year, 21.2 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level. Of them, petrochemical, power, nonferrous metal and oil companies suffered profit declines of 79.65 percent, 79.01 percent, 17.95 percent and 16.26 percent respectively.

According to the ministry, tax revenue totaled 532.325 billion yuan nationwide in July, up 13.8 percent over the same month of last year. The growth rate was 19.3 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level, due partly to efforts to cool down the economy and curb inflation.