The water resources tax pilot reform will expand to nine more provinces including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, Ningxia, Shaanxi on December 1, said Wang Jianfan, chief of the Taxation Bureau at the Ministry of Finance, Yicai.com reported.
Pilot reform was launched in Hebei province a year ago and Wang believes the addition of nine new provinces will sufficiently cover the East, West and Middle China with different levels of water resources and economic development.
“We will promptly conduct an evaluation of the implementation of the pilot, give full consideration to the disparities between regions and further improve the water resources tax system,” said Wang, “We will comprehensively push forward the reform across the country.”
The minimum average amount of tax in pilot provinces will be 0.1 to 1.6 yuan per cubic meter for surface water, and 0.2 to 4 yuan per cubic meter for groundwater, without increasing the burden on enterprises and residents for normal production and domestic water use.
Market pricing for water especially for agriculture will reduce wastage.