Farmland tax, e-commerce laws reviewed

LAWMAKERS yesterday began reviewing a draft law on farmland occupation taxes, as China pushes forward law-based taxation reform.

The draft law was submitted to the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress for deliberation at a session that runs until Friday.

Entities and individuals who occupy farmland to build houses or other nonagricultural units should pay farmland occupation taxes, according to the draft law. The construction of water conservancy facilities on farmland will be exempt from tax.

The building of military installations, schools, kindergartens, social welfare institutions and medical institutions on farmland will be exempt from the farmland occupation taxes as well, it said.

The draft law was based on an interim regulation on farmland occupation taxes which was first promulgated by the State Council in 1987 and revised in 2007.

The collection of farmland occupation taxes has played an important role in promoting the rational use of land resources, and strengthening the protection of arable land, said Minister of Finance Liu Kun while explaining the draft to lawmakers at the start of the session.

A total of nearly 1.42 trillion yuan (US$208 billion) was collected in farmland occupation taxes between 2008 and 2017, statistics showed.

Legislators yesterday also began reviewing the latest draft e-commerce law, which was submitted to the Standing Committee for the fourth reading at the bimonthly session.

“The law is a necessity to protect the legitimate interests of all e-commerce participants, regulate conduct, maintain market order, and improve the sustainable and sound development of e-commerce,” said Xu Hui, vice chairman of the NPC Constitution and Law Committee.

Operators engaging in cross-border e-commerce should abide by laws and regulations regarding import and export, according to the draft law.

E-commerce platform operators may face a penalty of 500,000 yuan, or up to 2 million yuan in serious cases, for failing to take necessary steps against intellectual property rights infringement by merchants on their platforms, or unreasonably restricting transactions on the platforms, the draft law said.

China, the world’s largest e-commerce market, saw its online retail sales grow 32.2 percent year on year in 2017 to reach 7.18 trillion yuan.

The draft e-commerce law was first reviewed in December 2016 then later deliberated in October 2017 and June 2018 by the NPC Standing Committee.