HOT WORDS Water resource tax
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Water Resources and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued a document to extend the water resource tax that has been piloted in Hebei province to another nine provincial-level regions, including Beijing, Tianjin and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, starting Dec 1.
The tax, which has been piloted in Hebei since July 1, 2016, aims to promote the protection, conservation and efficient use of water resources.
Hebei has seen better water conservation since it started to levy the tax on water resources. The province not only faces a serious lack of water, but also has other serious problems such as the overuse of groundwater and water pollution, which have drawn wide public concern.
Since the tax was levied in the province, local water resources have been more efficiently used and the overuse of groundwater has been curbed to some extent.
Extending the pilot program is aimed at perfecting the design of the water resource tax so it can be implemented nationwide.
The water resource tax is a compulsory fee paid on water use above quotas or areas where water resources are being over-exploited.
The fees for domestic water use remain unchanged, but industries that consume a lot of water such as car washes, bath centers and golf courses, have to pay more. A reasonable amount of agricultural water utilization will also be exempted from the tax, in order to avoid increasing the burden on farmers.