China's best-paid employees earned about US$39,750 per capita last year and worked at power, energy and other State-owned monopolies, according to recently released statistics. The numbers were compiled after 1,628,706 high-income earners filed tax self-declarations by the April 2 deadline. It was the first time that the State Administration of Taxation required the declarations from people earning more than US$15,000 per year, state media reported. The majority of the big earners, 81%, came from the eastern coastal cities, and the majority of their income was made up of salaries, share dividends, private business and consulting work. Tax experts say the number of people filing is still low and should be as high as 6 million.