New measure would impose levies on air, water pollutants, noise
China's top legislature has begun to review a draft environmental protection tax law, which is proposing a tax on air- and water-borne pollutants, solid waste and noise.
Experts said it's a measure aimed at reducing emissions.
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress tackled the draft on first reading on Monday, The Beijing News reported Monday.
The current pollutant discharge fee will be the proposed law's minimum charge on which local authorities could set their own tax standards.
China's 1979 Environmental Protection Law imposed a "pollutant discharge fee." In 2015, it collected 17.3 billion yuan ($2.59 billion) from 280,000 enterprises and other business operators, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
"The environmental protection tax uses economic measures to reduce emissions, which would allow for the stricter enforcement of environmental standards," Ma Jun, director of Beijing-based nonprofit organization, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times.
"Pollutant discharge fees were not collected as much as before because companies would resist local environment departments," Xia Jun, a Beijing-based lawyer with the Environment and Resources Law Committee of the All-China Lawyers Association, told the Global Times.
"Other countries, especially in Europe, enjoy greater success in collecting an environmental protection tax," Ma said.
However, applying the law in the future would face challenges, such as how to deal with companies, some of which are protected by local governments, as well as how to ensure the accuracy of monitored data, Ma said.
The draft law is proposing rates ranging from 350 yuan to 11,200 yuan per month on industrial noise on excessive decibel levels.
It also set rates of 1.2 yuan on a stipulated quantity of air pollutants, 1.4 yuan on a stipulated quantity of water pollutants and a range of five to 1,000 yuan for each ton of different kinds of solid waste, according to Xinhua.
Meanwhile, according to the draft, mobile pollution sources such as vehicles, ships and aircraft are exempted.
China's Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said on Monday that since existing taxes, such as on vehicle purchases, vehicle and vessel use, are currently being imposed on exhaust emissions, it is not advisable to impose additional taxes on vehicles and vessels, The Beijing Times reported.
Carbon dioxide emissions are likewise exempt, said Lou.
