"There is no timetable set for the property tax levy, and there
will be no extra burden for tax payers," said Yang Suizhou, Deputy
Director of the Local Taxation Department under the State
Administration of Taxation, on January 11.
The country is expected to consolidate the current urban
land-use tax and the real estate tax into the property tax,
according to Yang.
Last year, the State Administration of Taxation picked 10
provinces and cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen, Dalian, Jiangsu
and Chongqing, to levy "virtual property taxes", which means no
money will actually be collected. Three or five more regions will
be selected as pilot areas for virtual operation, said Yang.
"The tax is an effective means to adjust the property market and
will serve as a stable income source for the government. But it
will take a long time to achieve the goal," said Yang.
The government may begin collecting the property tax as early as
this year, Liu He, deputy director of the Leading Work Group of
Financial and Economic Works of the CPC Central Committee, said at
an annual financial meeting last year.
When answering a question on environment tax, Yang told the
China Business News that research was needed before
enacting the new policy. A feasibility study report on the taxation
will be worked out in 2008.
The environment tax, which was reported as one of the key
taxation policies China plans to push forward this year, is going
through careful study and appraisal by the Ministry of Finance, the
State Administration of Taxation and the State Environmental
Protection Administration. Foreign experts were invited to join the
research.
Yang also announced that China would tighten land value-added
tax (VAT) collection. The SAT had levied 36.6 billion yuan in land
VAT in the first 11 months last year, up 80.6 percent from the
previous year.
The value-added tax on land was written into a national
regulation in 1993, but was not widely collected due to a
subsequent recession in the real estate sector. With China's real
estate investment surging and house prices rocketing, the tax has
been resumed. Yang also said that the authorities would fully
enforce a clearance of land VAT in 2008.
A blueprint for the new resource tax reform is now under
discussion and will soon be submitted to the State Council for
examination and approval. The exact time for the announcement of
the new fuel tax has yet to be released, said Yang.
(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan, January 15, 2008)