<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)"> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/> <o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PersonName"/>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Hi Carlos,<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> I think this will not make a big difference. It’s a one time tax and if I have money to even begin considering of buying a 4.0liter car then a 20% tax means nothing to me. A better way would be complement it with a yearly renewal tax and then have increasingly graduated renewal or road taxes every year. For example, 30% on the 1st year, then 32% on the 2nd, 35% on the third and so on…So that by the time the car reaches a certain age, the owner has to pay more taxes in order to keep it on the road. And they should keep a cap on ownership to 10 years. Otherwise, one-off taxes hardly seem a hurdle if I really want that car. Because a car is more than just personal transport, it tells something about the owner. And the nouveau riche almost always wants the toys for the big boys.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Talking about environmentally-unsound goods…they should be taxing heavily shark’s fin soup and shark’s fin dumpling! In any case, people who eat the real thing are putting themselves at risk by ingesting these mercury-laden goodies. Yumyum.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Cheers,<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Jojo<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <div> <div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'> <hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1> </div> From: sustran-discuss-bounces+cvegjl=nus.edu.sg@list.jca.apc.org [mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+cvegjl=nus.edu.sg@list.jca.apc.org] On Behalf Of Carlos F. Pardo SUTP Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 11:19 PM To: '<st1:PersonName w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Asia</st1:place> and the Pacific sustainable transport</st1:PersonName>' Subject: [sustran] Chinese tax for big cars<o:p></o:p> </div> <o:p> </o:p> Only for cars with engines over four liters, but it could help…<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Original source: <a href="http://www.worldwatch.org/features/chinawatch/stories/20060323-2">http://www.worldwatch.org/features/chinawatch/stories/20060323-2</a> <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <h3 style='margin:.85pt'><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> Imposes Consumption Tax on Large Cars, Environmentally Un-sound Goods<o:p></o:p></h3> <table class=MsoNormalTable border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=right> <tr> <td style='padding:4.5pt 4.5pt 4.5pt 4.5pt'> <o:p> </o:p> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style='padding:4.5pt 4.5pt 4.5pt 4.5pt'> <o:p> </o:p> </td> </tr> </table> March 23, 2006 By Zijun Li <o:p></o:p> 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 <a href="http://news.sohu.com/20060322/n242403990.shtml">joint notice</a> 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."<o:p></o:p> 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. <o:p></o:p> 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 <a href="http://gb.chinabroadcast.cn/8606/2006/03/22/106@956917.htm">Xinjin News</a>, China produced 85 million square meters of solid wood flooring in 2004, most of which was made by individual manufacturers. And the country's <st1:State w:st="on">northern provinces</st1:State> produce an estimated 15 billion disposable chopsticks for export to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Korea</st1:place></st1:country-region> every year, consuming some 13 million cubic meters of timber. <o:p></o:p> 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. <o:p></o:p> <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region> 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, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>'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. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>  <o:p> </o:p> Carlos F. Pardo Coordinador de Proyecto GTZ - Proyecto de Transporte Sostenible (SUTP, SUTP-LAC) Cl 125bis # 41-28 of 404 Bogot� D.C., Colombia Tel:  +57 (1) 215 7812<o:p></o:p> Fax: +57 (1) 236 2309  Mobile: +57 (3) 15 296 0662 e-mail: <a href="mailto:carlos.pardo@sutp.org" title="mailto:carlos.pardo@sutp.org">carlos.pardo@sutp.org</a> P�gina: <a href="http://www.sutp.org/" title="http://www.sutp.org/">www.sutp.org</a><o:p></o:p> - Visite nuestra nueva secci�n de Latinoam�rica y el Caribe en <a href="http://www.sutp.org/esp/espindex.htm">http://www.sutp.org/esp/espindex.htm</a> <o:p></o:p> - �nase al grupo de discusi�n de Transporte Sostenible en Latinoam�rica enviando un correo a  sutp-lac-subscribe@gruposyahoo.com<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html>