The Three Sector Unanimously Passed The Environmental Tax Collection Scheme.

The three departments such as the Ministry of Finance passed. Environmental tax Collection scheme

Expert: as early as next year, sulfur dioxide and wastewater will be first introduced. taxation

　　 Reporter Wang Tao reports from Beijing

Reporters recently learned from the parties concerned that the environmental tax collection scheme has been approved by the three departments of the Ministry of finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of environmental protection, and has been reported to the State Council. Authorities said that the proposed environmental tax collection scheme would first collect two tax items of sulphur dioxide and wastewater and adopt a method of collecting pollutants from the volume. The tax burden level is equivalent to the current sewage charges. Experts close to the ministries believe that the timing is a difficult problem. policy The plan will be introduced next year.

　 Early sulfur dioxide and wastewater treatment

As the head of the research group of the National Social Science Fund, "the research on the taxation system of China's environmental resources", Ma Zhong, Dean of the Environmental College of Renmin University of China, said that the environmental tax will be introduced in the form of independent taxes. In general, the collection scheme is what people call "fee to tax", that is, the improvement of our existing sewage charges. At present, considering the technical level and other factors, the main tax items include sulfur dioxide and wastewater at the beginning of the levy. The main body of tax payment is the unit for discharging pollutants, and the actual discharge amount of pollutants is the basis of taxation. Take waste water as an example, the plan may be mainly aimed at COD (chemical oxygen demand) emissions from industrial enterprises.

In terms of the concerned tax rate, Ma said that the design of the tax rate may be relatively low in the initial stage of the environmental tax, and the relevant tax burden is basically the same as the current sewage charges. This statement has also been recognized by an expert of the finance and Economics Institute: "at the very beginning, the collection of environmental taxes should not be higher than the standard of sewage charges." Specific to the practice of tax collection and management, some experts suggest that differentiated tax rates can be designed according to the different environmental impacts caused by pollutants in different regions. The environmental tax rate remains at a low level, and is also a common measure adopted by many OECD (OECD) countries at the beginning of the enacted environmental tax. Statistics show that Germany is an earlier tax levy on waste water. Since the early 80s of last century, the water pollution tax has been levied. The rate of first year's levy is 12 Mark per unit of pollution. After that, its tax rate has been increased to 35.9 euros per unit of pollution in 2007.

According to the introduction, the collection of environmental taxes may follow the step of "fee to tax", that is to say, in the early stage, it will impose a "fee to tax" on pollutants that are relatively large and relatively stable and easy to collect, such as sulphur dioxide and wastewater pollutants. Ma explained that the design of environmental taxes should not only consider the theoretical rationality, but also consider the feasibility in practice. Theoretically speaking, the environmental tax should include a lot of pollute environmental behaviors and products into the scope of levy. However, due to the limitations of the relevant emission monitoring technology level, we need to take a gradual approach, starting with the key sources of pollution and the target of easy collection and management, and then expand the scope of the levy until the experience and conditions are ripe.

It is noteworthy that the reported environmental tax collection scheme did not involve carbon tax. Earlier, a part of the view was that, in view of the increasingly severe carbon dioxide reduction situation facing the international community, China should include carbon dioxide emissions in the environmental tax adjustment scope when formulating environmental taxes, and encourage China's economic development to transform to low carbonization through environmental taxes. In this regard, most of the experts interviewed by the economic reference daily believe that it is unlikely that carbon tax will be imposed for the time being. It is far from easy to levy carbon tax on the technical level of environmental monitoring. Ma Zhong reminded.

　 Double dividend effect will gradually appear.

Generally speaking, environmental taxes, like other taxes, will increase the burden of taxable objects to some extent. Therefore, once the environmental tax is introduced, the impact on related industries and enterprises will be paid close attention.

The environmental protection planning department of the Ministry of environmental protection revealed that the design of the environmental tax system fully considered the actual situation of China's sewage enterprises and the actual situation of tax collection and management. The responsible person of the Ministry of environmental protection also told the economic reference daily that the introduction of environmental taxes will not increase the burden on enterprises. {page_break}
 

Under normal circumstances, the impact of environmental taxes on enterprises depends not only on the scope of environmental tax collection, but also on the size of the environmental tax rate. With the established scope of environmental tax collection, the higher the environmental tax rate, the greater the impact of environmental taxes on enterprises.

Ma believes that the environmental tax burden at the initial stage is comparable to the current level of sewage charges. From this point of view, it will not have a significant impact on the operating income of enterprises. However, the introduction of tax policies will still shake the market. "Especially taxation is a long-term stable policy."

An electric power industry veteran told the economic reference daily that the introduction of environmental taxes will still have a certain impact on major emission enterprises. For example, if we decide to levy an environmental tax on sulfur dioxide pollutants, it should have an impact on electricity and related industries.

In fact, "who pollutes and who pays taxes" is the principle put forward by the OECD Environmental Committee in the 70s of last century. Relevant research data show that in 1972, the United States took the lead in levying sulphur dioxide tax. At that time, the sulfur dioxide concentration reached a certain level, and the corresponding amount of tax was levied according to the quantity, so as to guide producers to install corresponding environmental protection equipment and use low sulfur fuel. For example, in areas where sulfur dioxide concentration reaches the first level, 15 pounds of sulfur per pound is charged. Germany's levy of water pollution tax is also the principle of "who pollutes and pays taxes". All the water pollution tax levied is used as a local revenue to improve water quality.

For China's guiding ideology of levying environmental taxes, a relatively consistent understanding is to increase the regulation and control of pollution and destroy environmental behavior through taxation, and then help solve some deep-seated problems in the process of environmental protection in China, promote economic structural transformation and improve the ecological environment, and further improve the tax structure, rather than expanding the tax source and increasing revenue for the government.

Although at present, the symbolic meaning of levying environmental tax may be greater than practical significance, in the long run, the "double dividend" of environmental tax will gradually appear. Ma said that with the expansion of the scope of environmental tax collection and the increase of tax rates, the income and competitiveness of enterprises may be affected. However, the state can take measures such as lowering corporate income tax and business tax to reduce the impact of environmental taxes on enterprises, thus achieving the dual purpose of environmental protection and promoting the healthy development of the economy, which is the "double dividend" of environmental taxes. In addition, from the point of view of improving the tax system, the environmental tax will also improve the efficiency of the whole tax system.

　 Timing is difficult.

In many people's view, since the collection scheme has been relatively clear, it is not far from the environmental tax. However, a considerable number of experts believe that although the environmental tax should be introduced during the "12th Five-Year" period, the specific collection time needs to be carefully considered. At present, timing is a difficult problem. If it is in the form of "Regulations", it will be launched as soon as possible next year, and if the introduction of an environmental tax law will take longer time.

In fact, environmental taxes have become the focus of discussion for more than one time in the past few years, but they often only smell their voices. However, the official expression of the introduction of the environmental tax has increased significantly recently, triggering a new round of expectations.

In 2007, the Ministry of finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of environmental protection started the study of environmental taxes in order to implement the spirit of the fiscal and taxation system that is conducive to scientific development and the "environmental tax" for the study of the comprehensive plan of work for energy saving and emission reduction of the Seventeenth National Congress of the CPC.

In May this year, the State Council approved the national development and Reform Commission's "opinions on deepening the reform of the economic system in 2010". At the end of October and the fifth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China formally put forward the proposal for formulating the Twelfth Five Year Plan for national economic and social development, levying environmental protection tax.

Ma said that the introduction of a new tax involves all aspects of society and economic life. The tax levied in a certain link will extend to other stages and affect all aspects of the economy. Therefore, the adjustment of new taxes or policies should be cautious.

In his view, the macroeconomic situation is a very important factor, which usually plays a decisive role in the introduction or reform of tax categories. "For the current economic situation, the introduction of a new tax should be a difficult decision for the decision making tier." Generally speaking, the best time to levy a new tax is the rapid economic growth, the rapid growth of income and income level of residents and enterprises, while the inflation rate is at a low level. "From 2008 to now, it should be said that there is no particularly suitable time. The fastest word will come out next year. If we are going to introduce an environmental tax law, the time will be longer." Moreover, in the process of tax system improvement, there still exist coordination among different taxes, which will be carried out step by step according to the urgency degree.