Study Of The Enlargement Path Of Resource Tax In China

China's resource reserves are abundant,but per capita resources are scarce.For example,the total amount of water resources ranks sixth in the world,while the per capita water resources are only 24% of the world average;forest coverage ranks fifth in the world,but per capita forest coverage is only 18% of the world average.The shortages of resources such as these have gradually become an important factor restricting China's economic development.Resource tax is related to the use of resources,which can effectively restrain the excessive use of natural resources by taxpayers and encourage taxpayers to improve the use of resources.However,China's resource tax has been too narrow for a long time.China has not put precious natural resources such as water,forests,grasslands and beaches into the resource tax scope.Based on this situation,in 2016,the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued a document “Notice on Circular on the Comprehensive Promotion of Resource Tax Reform”,which clearly put forward the requirements of resource tax expansion.At present,10 provinces(autonomous regions/municipalities directly under the Central Government)such as Hebei,Beijing and Tianjin have launched water resources tax pilot projects,and the tax on forest,grassland and beach resources is also in the stage of system design.Resource tax expansion is doomed to be a long process.It must be carried out steadily on the basis of summing up experience.The achievements and problems in the previous stage should be taken as the reference basis for the next stage of expansion.This paper is based on this idea.Because water,forest,grassland and beach resources are facing problems such as overuse,backward use mode,unreasonable use structure,serious shortcomings of related fee items,the problems they face are highly similar.And forest,grassland and beach resources tax has not yet been piloted,so this paper explores the path of resource tax expansion in China based on the experience of Hebei water resources tax pilot experience.This paper first explores the relevant theories of resource tax expansion,then combs the process of resource tax expansion in China,elaborates the background and path of resource tax expansion in 2016,and points out the problems and challenges faced by this expansion.Then I deeply analyses the pilot experience of water resources tax in Hebei Province.Whether water resources tax can achieve the effect of protecting resources and environment,what impact it will have on enterprises and the efficiency of water resourcestax collection and management are the most concerned content of this paper.This paper first uses Hebei provincial data to analyze the above problems from the macro level,which is lacking in previous literature.Some achievements have been achieved by using macro data,but macro data analysis can not accurately measure the water saving effect of water resources tax,nor can it comprehensively measure the behavior of enterprise transformation and upgrading.Therefore,this paper uses case analysis method.Selecting representative industrial enterprises and water supply enterprises to study the water-saving effect of water resources tax on specific enterprises,the change of enterprise burden before and after taxation,and the incentive effect of water resources tax on enterprise transformation and upgrading.In the case of industrial enterprises,it is verified that enterprises can ultimately make their water resources tax burden lower than the water resources fee burden through transformation and upgrading.Combined with the results of macro data analysis and case analysis,the effectiveness and shortcomings of Hebei water resources tax pilot project are summarized as a reference for researching expanding the scope of resources tax.Then compare the paths of expanding resource tax in foreign countries to find the experience worth learning.Finally,based on the pilot experience of water resources tax,combined with theoretical discussion and international experience,this paper explores the path of expanding the scope of China's resource tax,and puts forward targeted suggestions in three aspects: the principle of expanding the scope,the design of tax elements and supporting measures.