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Mimi Lau

The State Council has issued a draft environment tax law that proposes targeting air, water, noise and solid waste pollution through levies on polluters.
The move, announced yesterday, appears to be part of Beijing's promise to implement regulations that will force polluters to pay for the damage they do.
The council proposed the following rates: 1.4 yuan per 4kg of suspended solids for water pollutants, a range of 5-30 yuan per tonne for solid waste and 1.2 yuan per unit for air pollutants.
For air pollutants, what counts as a unit will depend on the pollutant. Sulphur dioxide, for example, will attract a levy of 1.2 yuan per 0.95kg.
Industrial noises will also attract levies, according to the level of decibels recorded.
These will be on a scale of 350 yuan to 11,200 yuan, but the council did not say if these were daily rates or another timeframe.
Such taxes may be halved for companies emitting below half the national standard.
Provincial governments may raise the rates according to local environmental conditions, state-run Xinhua reported.
The taxes will exclude pollutants from agriculture except those from large-scale animal husbandry and mobile pollution sources including motor vehicles, locomotives, non-road mobile machinery, ships and aircraft, as long as the pollutants are within national standards.
Normal emissions by urban sewage and refuse treatment plants will also be exempted.
For many companies, the cost of complying with environmental regulations has traditionally outweighed the fines, giving industries little incentive to install clean technologies.
Amendments to the Environmental Protection Law, which went into effect on January 1, also include provisions to bolster financial and criminal punishments for transgressors.
Environment Minister Chen Jining said on Tuesday that the environment in China had "reached its limit", with high pollution and ecological damage.
He said the government would take "more forceful measures" over the next five years to protect the environment.
Commenting on the draft environmental tax law, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, said it would motivate companies to embrace clean technology.
Ma said the law offered a smooth transition from the pollutant discharge fees companies currently pay, but it would take time to see how it would fare in the long term.
"It's an issue whether the levy could be charged accurately based on the pollutants generated. It will take time to observe whether the levy will be as negotiable as pollution discharge fees," Ma said.
He said data collection needed to be consistent and urged environmental and taxation authorities to be open in disclosing such data.
"Transparency is very important. Not only will it allow taxation authorities to get up-to-date information over the amount of pollution a company has produced, it will allow the public to monitor how effectively the levy is being invested back into environmental protection."


China unveils plan for pollution tax

A coal-fired power plant in Shijiazhuang. China has issued a draft law to tax pollution. Photo: Reuters

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China

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Draft law proposes levies for air, water and noise pollution as well as greater financial and criminal punishments for transgressors
