Beijing passed a resolution on Dec. 1 to levy environmental protection taxes at a maximum rate according to statutory standards.
For air pollutants, the tax rate will be 12 yuan (US$1.814) per unit of pollutional equivalent; for water pollutants, the tax rate will be 14 yuan per unit of pollutional equivalent.
The environmental protection taxes will be collected from the first day of 2018, when China's Law of Environmental Protection Taxes takes effect. Based on that, specific tax rates are to be determined by the individual provinces, autonomous regions, or municipal governments.
The Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance said the decision of applying maximum tax rate results from the challenging tasks of improving the city's environment. Beijing needs to reduce its PM2.5 density from 80.6 micrograms per cubic meter in 2015 to 56 micrograms per cubic meter in 2020. Water quality meeting standards needs to rise from 57 percent to 77 percent during this period.
In 2016, the total amount of pollutant charges levied in Beijing was a mere 613 million yuan, far less than the city's expenses on environmental protection -- 16.56 billion yuan to control air pollution and 17.66 billion yuan to protect water resources. In the face of such an imbalance, raising the rates of environmental protection taxes will force polluters to pay their obligatory share as well as promote emission cuts, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Finance.