Resource tax reform saves Chinese firms 4.2b yuan a year

BEIJING — China's resource tax reform has brought huge tax reductions to enterprises, as well as healthy industrial development, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) said Monday.

By the end of June this year, Chinese firms had had their taxes reduced by 4.2 billion yuan (about $630 million) since the government expanded resource tax reform across the nation last July, according to the SAT.

Higher taxes hit enterprises with high resource consumption and pollution while taxes are cut for resource-saving and environment-friendly ones, to improve resource utilization and assist industrial upgrades.

In Shandong's Laiwu city, more than 19 million yuan of tax on iron ore has been waived, 31 percent of the city's total taxes on such resource, according to local authorities.

"The reform has both lowered production costs and provided funds for green mines," said Yang Yongjun, head of the local taxation bureau.

The SAT is considering expanding a pilot program on water resource taxation.