Environmental tax collection case

EU exhaust gas and air pollution tax

The more common taxes on exhaust gas include the sulfur dioxide tax on sulfur dioxide emissions and the carbon tax on carbon dioxide emissions. Take the sulfur dioxide tax as an example. The United States already levied a sulfur dioxide tax in the 1970s. According to the provisions of its "Sulfur Dioxide Tax Act", areas where the concentration of sulfur dioxide reaches the first level standard are taxed at 15 cents per pound of sulfur emitted; areas that meet the second level standard are taxed at 10 cents per pound of sulfur; areas above the second level standard It is exempted. Germany, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, France and other countries have also levied sulfur dioxide taxes.

Wastewater and water pollution tax. Wastewater includes industrial wastewater, agricultural wastewater and domestic wastewater. Many countries impose water pollution taxes on wastewater discharges. For example, Germany has levied this tax since 1981, and implemented a unified national tax rate based on the "pollution unit" of wastewater (equivalent to the pollution load of one resident for one year).

Another example is the water pollution discharge fee levied in the Netherlands based on "population equivalent" (equivalent to the amount of pollutants discharged into the waters per person per year), which is also a water pollution tax. Fixed waste tax. Stationary waste can be divided into industrial waste, commercial waste, agricultural waste and domestic waste according to source. Fixed waste taxes levied by various countries include disposable tableware taxes, beverage container taxes, used tire taxes, lubricant taxes, etc.

Italy

Italy introduced a waste disposal tax in 1984, which was levied on everyone as a source of funds for local governments to dispose of waste. Noise pollution and noise taxes. Noise pollution refers to a phenomenon in which the volume of emissions exceeds the tolerance of people and animals, thus hindering the normal life of people or animals. There are two types of noise taxes: one is fixed levy. For example, the United States stipulates that a noise control tax of US$1 is levied on each passenger and per ton of cargo using airports such as Los Angeles. The tax is used to pay for the isolation of residential areas around the airport. ; The second is to levy emission units based on noise emissions. For example, the airport noise tax in Japan and the Netherlands is levied on airlines based on the number of aircraft landings.

Mainly includes deforestation tax, etc. France introduced this tax in 1969. It stipulates that if forests are cut down for urban planning or industrial construction purposes, a tax of 6,000 francs per hectare shall be paid; in other cases, a tax of 3,000 francs per hectare shall be paid. of taxes. Belgium's "Ecological Tax Law" passed in 1993 stipulates a series of ecological taxes, which apply to beverage packaging, disposable razors and cameras, pesticides, paper, batteries and other products.

Typical environmental taxes in developed countries mainly include air pollution tax, water pollution tax, noise tax, solid waste tax and garbage tax.

Canada

Canada imposes a levy and deposit on disposable solid beverage containers. When selling beverages, consumers are levied environmental fees and a certain deposit. The tax amount per bottle ranges from 0.05 to 0.30 Canadian dollars. The deposit will be refunded when the empty bottle is returned, and the environmental protection fee will be retained for the disposal of disposable beverage containers. This measure reduces the littering of beverage packaging, protects nature and energy, and reduces the use of containers and waste generation to a certain extent. Because when using air conditioners, it will pollute the environment, and it costs money to clean up this pollution.

Therefore, when purchasing an air conditioner, the buyer must pay an additional environmental tax. The price of each air conditioner already includes the environmental tax. It makes perfect sense that whoever caused the pollution should pay to clean it up. In Canada's federal tax law, there are provisions that encourage taxpayers to invest in projects and equipment for environmental protection. The cost of such projects can be appropriately deducted from income, and the accelerated depreciation method can be used for equipment that saves energy and reduces air pollution and water pollution to reduce corporate taxes.

Ireland

In order to curb the crazy use of plastic shopping bags and reduce white pollution, the Irish government levied a tax equivalent to 13 cents on each plastic shopping bag. All funds collected will be handed over to the newly established environmental protection fund for environmental protection projects. Practice has shown that this approach is very effective in curbing white pollution, and the use of plastic bags has dropped by 90%. At the same time, the tax has also raised considerable funds for environmental protection projects in Ireland, and national environmental awareness has also been improved.

Finland

The Finnish government plans to nearly double the garbage tax in three years to reduce the amount of garbage nationwide. Under the plan, the Finnish government increased the tax levied per ton of waste from 15.14 euros to 23 euros. By 2005, the waste tax will increase to 30 euros per ton. According to the planning of relevant departments, by 2007, the traditional methods of dumping and burying garbage will be completely abandoned, all kinds of garbage will be utilized to the maximum extent, and the remaining garbage will be used as fuel to produce heat energy.

Hong Kong, China

In late May 2007, the Environmental Protection Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China announced a proposed plastic bag tax. The plan proposes that in order to protect the environment and reduce the use of plastic bags, the Hong Kong government plans to levy a shopping plastic bag tax. This tax will be implemented as soon as the end of the year. Hong Kong citizens will pay 0.5 for each plastic bag used when shopping in supermarkets or convenience stores. Hong Kong dollar tax. The tax is collected by the store and submitted to the government every quarter. If the store violates the rules, embezzles the tax or pays the tax on behalf of customers to avoid affecting the business, it may be fined up to HK$200,000. The Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department will set up a team to conduct raids on stores. For citizens who refuse to pay the plastic bag tax, "it is equivalent to not paying for something, and the store can call the police."

United States

In 1971, the U.S. Congress introduced a bill on a nationwide tax on sulfur emissions into the environment, and in 1987 proposed a tax on sulfur monoxide and sulfide. Nitrogen oxide emissions are taxed. Since then, the U.S. government has gradually introduced taxation methods into the field of environmental protection, and has now formed a relatively complete environmental taxation system, which mainly includes consumption taxes on chemicals that damage ozone, gasoline taxes, and taxes and fees related to automobile use. (such as truck and trailer consumption tax, tire tax, etc.), mining tax, solid waste treatment tax (fee), sulfur dioxide tax, environmental income tax, etc., and there are many preferential environmental tax policies.

From the perspective of collection and management, the United States has very strict collection and management of environmental taxes. It is collected uniformly by the tax department and paid to the Treasury Department, which incorporates it into the general fund budget and trust funds respectively, and the latter is transferred to the subordinate super fund.

Australia

Australian environmental protection mainly involves air environment protection, biodiversity protection, coastal and marine environment protection, greenhouse gas emission control, land and forest environment protection and water resources protection. Tax policies for environmental protection mainly involve coastal and marine environmental protection, greenhouse gas emission control, land and forest environmental protection, and water resources protection. In order to protect the marine environment, the Australian government provides tax incentives for offshore fishing. In 1997, Australia passed the "Income Tax Estimation Act" and signed agreements with 322 farmers. By reducing farmers' income tax, they encouraged farms to protect trees (planting trees, not cutting down trees) and water resources, and maintain ecological imbalances.

The Australian government provides tax incentives to companies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions. When tourism companies protect forests and carry out environmental management, such as collecting garbage, the government will provide them with corresponding tax exemptions. Through income tax reduction and exemption, individuals and legal entities are encouraged to save water and use water efficiently. In addition, in order to reduce environmental pollution, the government has also levied quasi-tax garbage fees and water treatment fees on legal entities and individuals.

Garbage fees and garbage disposal fees belong to local government (municipal) revenue. Policies vary from place to place. Some are based on the value of the property, some are based on the area of ??the property, and some are based on the area of ??the property. collected by other means. For example, Brisbane City levies garbage fees based on the number of trash cans, commercial units levy water treatment fees based on the number of toilets and water consumption, industrial units levy water treatment fees based on the number of toilets and wastewater volume, and individuals charge a fixed fee based on household units.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands is famous for its beautiful environment in the world. It is the first country among OECD countries to levy environmental taxes. Most of the Dutch environmental taxes are taxes with specific purposes. They are characterized by mainly small tax types. The tax rates of various environmental taxes are very clear and detailed. There are many types of taxes and they penetrate into all aspects of national life. With the improvement and rapid development of the Dutch environmental tax system, the proportion of environmental tax revenue in total tax revenue has continued to increase, rising from 1.22% in 1996 to 14% in 2004, accounting for 3.5% of GDP. At the same time, most of the Dutch environmental taxes are special-purpose taxes, so most of the tax revenue is used as a special fund, earmarked for special purposes, and all of it is used for environmental protection expenses.

In addition, when formulating environmental taxes, the Netherlands fully takes into account that taxing different consumption behaviors of the same product will have different impacts on the environment. Therefore, most of them make some tax exemptions for behaviors that have little impact on the environment. stipulates that it has better fulfilled its function of protecting the environment.

The taxes specially designed for environmental protection in the Netherlands mainly include: fuel tax, energy regulation tax, uranium tax, water pollution tax, groundwater tax, waste tax, garbage tax, noise tax, excess feces tax, Dog tax etc. From a practical point of view, based on the differences in collection purposes and conditions between the central government and local governments, the country has given local governments great flexibility in the collection and management of environmental taxes, and fully coordinated the tax department and various environment and resource departments. The cooperation ensures the high efficiency of Dutch environmental tax collection.

Poland

Poland began to establish environmental taxes and resource taxes in 1970. The purpose at that time was to encourage polluters to adjust their behavior. However, because the tax rate was low at the beginning, especially under the planned economic system, production and consumption responded very weakly to price signals. Environmental taxes did not effectively play a role through the price mechanism, but played more of a role in environmental investment. and the role of financing pollution reduction projects. Subsequently, in 1989, 1990 and 1992, the environmental tax was reformed, the tax rate level was greatly increased, and the collection system was also strengthened. Environmental taxes refer to environmental taxes and fees that have a positive impact on environmental protection. The concept of environmental tax can be divided into three types: narrow sense, medium sense and broad sense.

In the narrow sense, environmental tax is considered to be environmental pollution tax, which is a special tax levied by the state on economic entities that cause environmental pollution in order to limit the scope and degree of environmental pollution. Environmental tax in the Chinese sense is considered to be levied on all units and individuals that develop and utilize environmental resources (including natural resources and environmental capacity resources) according to their development and utilization intensity of environmental resources and the degree of pollution and damage to the environment. or a tax that is reduced or reduced. This view holds that environmental taxes mainly include natural resource taxes and environmental capacity taxes.

In a broad sense, environmental tax is considered to be the general term for various tax types and tax items related to the utilization and protection of environmental resources in the tax system.

This view holds that environmental taxes not only include pollution emission taxes, natural resource taxes, etc., but also include taxes that raise funds to achieve specific environmental purposes, as well as tax means that the government uses to influence the nature and scale of certain environmentally related economic activities. . The Ministry of Environmental Protection, the National Bureau of Statistics, and the Ministry of Agriculture jointly released the "First National Pollution Source Census Bulletin" today. Data show that the total national wastewater discharge in 2007 was 209.281 billion tons, and the total waste gas discharge was 63.720369 billion cubic meters. Zhang Lijun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that regarding the issue of environmental tax, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Environment have been conducting research and have already made some basic considerations. This census will provide better data support for studying environmental taxes.

Over the past two years, through the joint efforts of all regions, relevant departments and census work agencies at all levels, the Communist Party of China has mobilized 570,000 people, done a lot of detailed work, and completed it more successfully The census tasks determined by the State Council were carried out. This national pollution source census is a major survey of national conditions and strength. It has further clarified the basic situation of the four major categories of pollution sources in our country, and initially established various national and local key pollution source files and pollution source information databases at all levels to provide guidance for the management and establishment of pollution sources. The new "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" environmental statistics platform has laid the foundation and provided rich basic information for implementing the scientific outlook on development, transforming the economic growth model, adjusting and optimizing the economic structure, and formulating the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" environmental protection plan. Through the publicity and implementation of the census work and the extensive participation of all walks of life, the environmental protection awareness of the entire people has been further improved.

Lijun Lijun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, said that pollution and economic development are considered to have a curved relationship in academia. According to the path taken by developed countries, when the per capita income is US$8,000, pollution reaches peaks and then begins to decline. Since China is following a path of economic development that is different from that of developed countries, it is possible that China will peak at $3,000 per capita and then start to decline.

The plan is released

After the outbreak of the financial crisis, our country has accelerated the adjustment of industrial structure, and international public opinion has further increased the pressure on our country’s energy conservation and emission reduction. The introduction of environmental tax The timing, context, and internal and external circumstances are finally ripe.

In early 2008, relevant ministries and commissions in my country began to jointly study the collection of environmental taxes. In July 2010, the first draft of the environmental tax collection plan was released, and the timetable for the 2013 collection has been initially determined.

According to the plan, before the resource tax is levied nationwide, relevant departments will first select some key cities for pilot testing after consensus. It is reported that Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and other provinces and cities may become environmental tax pilot sites. After the pilot program matures, the advancement of environmental tax legislation will be accelerated.

Authority sources said that before the first draft of the environmental tax was formed, the government had three alternative plans. The final plan was selected because its design principle is closer to the essence of environmental tax: to absorb the environmental pollution costs of market entities into market prices, that is, to turn costs into tax rates, and ultimately achieve the goals of environmental protection, energy conservation and emission reduction. At the same time, In accordance with the principle of "whoever pollutes, pays taxes", the burden on enterprises will not be increased.

Implementation time

On August 4, 2010, the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that the environmental tax research has achieved phased results. The Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Environmental Protection A request for instructions on the introduction and piloting of environmental taxes will be submitted to the State Council.

As for the specific timetable for the implementation of environmental taxes, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development has proposed a roadmap and specific timetable for China to establish a relevant environmental tax system in three stages.

In the first stage, it will take 3 to 5 years to improve resource tax, consumption tax, vehicle and vessel tax and other environment-related taxes. An independent environmental tax should be levied as soon as possible. Sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide and wastewater emissions will all be possible choices for environmental tax purposes.

The second phase will take 2 to 4 years to further improve other environment-related taxes and tax policies. Expand the scope of environmental tax collection. If the environmental tax is not levied in the first stage, it needs to be levied in this stage.

In the third stage, it will take 3 to 4 years to continue to expand the scope of environmental tax collection. Combined with the reform of the environmental tax system, overall optimization will be carried out to build a mature and complete environmental tax system.

Agree to expropriation

Although my country's environmental protection system has played a certain role in curbing increasingly serious environmental pollution, the overall effect is not ideal. Representatives of the National People's Congress suggested formulating a special environmental tax law to give full play to the macro-control role of environmental taxes in reducing environmental pollution, improving natural ecology, increasing resource utilization, achieving social harmony and sustainable development of the national economy.

Relevant departments of the Ministry of Finance agree with the representatives’ suggestions on levying environmental taxes at an appropriate time. The Financial and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress recommends that the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and other departments while studying plans to levy environmental taxes, in accordance with the statutory provisions on taxation principles, pay close attention to the demonstration and evaluation of environmental tax laws, and put forward legislative suggestions in a timely manner.

Environmental Report

The "China Low-Carbon Economic Development Report (2014)" released on May 15, 2014 pointed out that it will take at least 15-20 years for China to eradicate the haze problem. Around the year, it is recommended to levy environmental taxes at an appropriate time and use economic means to control smog.

The report was compiled by the International Low Carbon Economy Research Institute co-founded by the University of International Business and Economics and Nagoya University in Japan. It was published by the Social Sciences Literature Press and released on the Beijing Science and Technology Expo platform on May 15.