[sustran] Chinese tax for big cars

[Carlos F. Pardo SUTP]

Only for cars with engines over four liters, but it could help


 

 

Original source:
<http://www.worldwatch.org/features/chinawatch/stories/20060323-2>
http://www.worldwatch.org/features/chinawatch/stories/20060323-2 

 


China Imposes Consumption Tax on Large Cars, Environmentally Un-sound Goods


 


 

March 23, 2006 By Zijun Li 

Starting April 1, Chinese consumers who buy cars with engine capacities of
more than four liters will be required to pay a consumption tax of 20
percent, according to a joint notice
<http://news.sohu.com/20060322/n242403990.shtml>  issued by the Ministry of
Finance and the State Administration of Taxation on March 21. The measure
puts a higher tax burden on larger, energy-inefficient vehicles and reflects
the government's recent embrace of a "small car policy."

Under the revised tax policy, the rate for small cars with a capacity of 1.0
to 1.5 liters will decrease to 3 percent, two percentage points lower than
before. Cars of 1.5 to 2.0 liters will continue to enjoy a tax rate of 5
percent, and rates for cars of more than two liters will range from 9–20
percent. 

To encourage more-efficient resource use and the development of a so-called
"circular" economy, the revised consumption tax also covers certain items
made of exhaustible resources including disposable chopsticks, wood
flooring, and other solid wood products, levying a 5 percent tax on them.
According to Xinjin News
<http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/8606/2006/03/22/106@956917.htm> , China
produced 85 million square meters of solid wood flooring in 2004, most of
which was made by individual manufacturers. And the country's northern
provinces produce an estimated 15 billion disposable chopsticks for export
to Japan and Korea every year, consuming some 13 million cubic meters of
timber. 

As Chinese consumption levels have changed with rapid economic development
and a rise in personal incomes, the country's decade-old consumption tax had
failed to keep pace with these changes. Therefore, a new range of items,
such as golf equipment and yachts, have been added to the revised policy,
levied at the rate of 10 percent. Meanwhile, commodities that have become
everyday essentials, such as shampoo and moisturizers, have been removed
from the list. Other items now taxed at lower rates include cigarettes,
alcohol, jet fuel, automobile tires, and motorcycles. 

China first levied a tax on consumer goods in 1994. The initial ruling
covered 11 categories of goods, including cigarettes, alcohol, cosmetics,
skin- and hair-care products, jewelry, firecrackers, gasoline, diesel,
automobile tires, and motorcycles. In total, China's tax revenue, exclusive
of tariffs and agricultural taxes, reached 3.09 trillion yuan (US $380.6
billion) in 2005, increasing 20 percent from 2004. 

 

 

Carlos F. Pardo 
Coordinador de Proyecto 
GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC) 
Cl 125bis # 41-28 of 404
Bogotá D.C., Colombia
Tel:  +57 (1) 215 7812

Fax: +57 (1) 236 2309  
Mobile: +57 (3) 15 296 0662
e-mail:  <mailto:carlos.pardo at sutp.org> carlos.pardo at sutp.org 
Página:  <http://www.sutp.org/> www.sutp.org

- Visite nuestra nueva sección de Latinoamérica y el Caribe en
<http://www.sutp.org/esp/espindex.htm> http://www.sutp.org/esp/espindex.htm 

- Únase al grupo de discusión de Transporte Sostenible en Latinoamérica
enviando un correo a  sutp-lac-subscribe at gruposyahoo.com

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://list.jca.apc.org/public/sustran-discuss/attachments/20060329/c1cd257d/attachment.html