BEIJING: In a move to simplify the coal tax charges, State Council China announced to set a new resource tax on coal of between 2 percent and 10 percent beginning from December 1 which will cancel all exiting taxes.
The Ministry of Finance, in a statement posted on its website, said that the coal resource tax range will be between 2 percent and 10 percent and the specific tax rates to be set by provincial-level finance departments within the above mentioned range.
“The government will abolish the resource conservation tax for crude oil and natural gas while lifting the exploration tax to 6 percent from 5 percent,” it stated.
Experts were of the view that the move in tax range comes after global level pressure on China to use its coal reservoir in more efficient way, creating less pollution for world.
It is important to mention here that the coal producers in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the fuel, have been struggling as a result of a massive supply glut and a collapse in prices these days as more than 70 percent of firms have made losses this year.