Resource Tax Law will be implemented in September next year

The 12th Session of the 13th Standing Committee of the National People's Congress voted to pass the Resource Tax Law of the People's Republic of China. The new law will come into force on September 1, 2020. What are the characteristics of the newly promulgated resource tax law? How to levy it? Compared with the current resource tax system, the resource tax law has three main changes:

(1) Unified tax items. The tax items should be standardized, and all taxable resources and products should be listed in the tax law. There are 164 tax items, covering all minerals and salts that have been found.

(2) The power to adjust the specific tax rate. The Resource Tax Law continues to adopt two types of tax rates: fixed tax rate and amplitude tax rate. For resources with amplitude tax rate, the specific applicable tax rate shall be specified by the provincial people's government and submitted to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress at the same level for decision in accordance with the requirements of implementing the statutory principle of taxation.

(3) Standardize tax reduction and exemption policies. The tax law clearly stipulates the preferential policies that have been implemented for a long time and proved effective in practice.

Director of Property Behavior Department of the General Administration of Taxation, Bo Xianglai: Compared with the Provisional Regulations of resource tax, the Resource Tax Law has absorbed the effective practices of tax collection and administration and services in recent years, and practiced the service concept of taxpayer-centered.

Water Resources Tax will not increase personal burden

Water Resources Tax Law will explicitly levy water resources tax on pilot projects. It stipulates that the State Council, in accordance with the needs of national economic and social development and the principles of this Law, shall levy a water resources tax on units and individuals that use surface water or groundwater for pilot projects. If a water resources tax is levied, the water resources fee shall be suspended. What will be the impact of water resources tax pilot?

The pilot reform of water resources tax was implemented in Hebei Province in 2016 and expanded to 9 provinces and cities including Beijing and Tianjin in December 2017. Xu Guoqiao, first-level inspector of the Taxation Department of the Ministry of Finance, said that the water shortage was mainly serious in the areas where the water shortage was relatively serious in North China. In the pilot project of water resources tax, fee is changed to tax. According to Xu Guoqiao, in the area of over-exploitation of groundwater, the tax rate of special industry and over-planned water is relatively high. Normal domestic water use, tax rates and the same as before, there is no change, will not increase the cost of water. Xu Guoqiao, first-level inspector of the Taxation Department of the Ministry of Finance, said that the main reason is to force high water-consuming enterprises to save water and improve water efficiency.