Chen Yatang, member of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
said on Tuesday that an environmental compensation mechanism for
resources exploitation should be set up and resources taxes and
tariffs for environmental protection should be raised as part of
China's development of western provinces.
Chen, a medical doctor, made the remark at a meeting held by the
National Committee of the CPPCC to discuss issues regarding the
country's six-year old "Go West" strategy.
Chen suggested raising the resources tax on coal to five yuan
per ton from the existing 2-3 yuan per ton and charging resources
taxes in accordance with reserves possessed by enterprises so as to
reduce waste of resources.
Duan Yingbi, vice director of the CPPCC's Economy Committee and
former vice director of the State Council's Western Region
Development Leading Group, said at the meeting, "I found in
research that resources exploited and transported out of a county
in the west are worth more than 300,000 yuan (US$36,232) per day
while the per capita annual income of the local residents is just
1,000 yuan (US$120). The current levying standard of resources tax
and allocation ratio should be adjusted to have the western people
benefit from resources exploitation."
In addition, tariffs for environmental protection in coal
exploitation should be raised from the current 0.2 yuan per ton to
2 yuan with the added revenue spent on building environmental
protection facilities in western regions.
The proportion of resources compensation fees collected by
central and local governments in provinces in the west should also
be altered, suggested Chen, adding that the present half-half ratio
should be changed to the central government getting 40 percent and
local government 60 percent.
Establishing an effective market mechanism for resources
compensation is vital, according to Chen. He called for putting
mining rights up for auction and drawing a certain percentage from
the funds. This sum, plus the resources compensation fees, should
be used in controlling geological disasters, ecological devastation
and other social problems.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Tingting, August 8, 2006)