Environmental taxes are an important economic measure to regulate pollution control. The development of environmental tax research and development jointly initiated by the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the former State Environmental Protection Agency at the beginning of this year has achieved new progress and has entered a mid-term phase, including environmental taxes, taxes, and how to initiate pilot environmental taxation. The basic theoretical framework has been established. In the face of the new Environmental Tax New Policy, industry sources pointed out that the chemical industry can only take precautions, consolidate the achievements of existing work, and further strengthen environmental protection in order to avoid being caught off guard after the introduction of the environmental tax reform policy.
It is understood that the collection of environmental taxes will take two approaches: First, to directly convert some of the current large-scale charging items in environmental charges, such as sewage treatment fees and sulfur dioxide sewerage charges, into environmental taxes, that is, fees and taxes; It is the new environmental tax and the existing environmental protection fee. The existing environmental protection fee will be retained and a new environmental tax will be set up. In the principle of taxation, the environmental tax will adopt three kinds of schemes: First, the “polluter†pays principle is the pollution discharge tax, and its tax base is directly related to the amount of pollutants. According to the types of pollutants directly discharged, Corresponding taxes include sulfur tax, nitrogen oxide tax, carbon tax, sewage tax, and solid waste tax; second, general environmental tax based on the principle of “beneficiary†payment, whose tax base can be equivalent to or attached to existing Tax bases for related taxes, such as urban maintenance and construction tax, corporate income tax, etc., are equivalent to the addition of these taxes. Thirdly, the pollution tax is based on the “user†payment principle. The object of the tax is the potentially polluting product. There are energy fuels, ozone-depleting substances, fertilizers, pesticides, detergents containing phosphorus, mercury-cadmium batteries, etc. Corresponding to the taxation of various pollution products, such as fuel and environmental taxes, special pollution product taxes, etc.
Wu Yajun, an expert on environment tax issues and an expert on environmental economics at Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said that the conditions for the collection of environmental taxes in China have been met, and the current technical support has matured. The tax collection departments are all involved in sewage charges and tax collection and management. Has a more complete testing system and collection capabilities.
The chemical industry, as a large energy resource consumer and a large environmental pollutant emitter, will certainly be one of the industries most affected by the new environmental tax policy. Zhou Yuqing, president of the Fujian Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association, said that the wastewater discharge, emissions, and solid waste production of the chemical industry are among the top five industries in the country. In recent years, the total size and profits of the petroleum and chemical industries have grown rapidly, but they are still relatively weak in terms of energy conservation, pollution control, and waste utilization. At present, there are still many problems in the environmental protection work in the chemical industry. For example, the awareness of environmental protection among leaders of some companies is not strong enough. The importance of promoting cleaner production and developing a recycling economy is still insufficient. The government departments’ efforts to penalize companies for violating environmental protection is not strong. Large, it makes companies prefer to pay fines rather than invest in environmental protection; lack of incentives for corporate environmental behavior. The collection of environmental taxes can largely overcome these problems and promote the development of chemical environmental protection. Zhou Yuqing pointed out that the forthcoming implementation of the environmental tax reform, regardless of the ultimate plan, will most likely increase the cost of chemical production, allowing chemical companies to add a lot of tax revenue. At the same time, the environmental tax reform will have a positive and far-reaching impact on the energy conservation and emission reduction of the chemical industry and the development of a recycling economy.
Immediately after the introduction of environmental taxes, it is an urgent task for the chemical industry to prepare and actively respond. The insiders of the chemical industry believe that companies must reduce the impact of the introduction of environmental taxes, must pay close attention to the internal management level and environmental governance ability to pass through standards, optimize and upgrade production processes and processes, eliminate equipment running counterfeit; fully implement cleaner production, carry out comprehensive Utilize, develop circular economy, transform backward technology and equipment, eliminate pollution in the production process, increase environmental protection investment, and strictly implement “three-simultaneous†environmental protection system for new construction, expansion and reconstruction projects, and use domestic and foreign advanced technology, technology and equipment. , To minimize the total discharge of pollutants, and to achieve the goal of increasing production without increasing pollution or increasing production and reducing pollution. In addition, chemical research institutes must step up research on environmental protection technologies, break through a number of key technologies, and accelerate the promotion of industrialization to promote the development of chemical environmental protection industries. In combination with the adjustment of chemical industry structure and product structure, we must plan and build chemical parks that are conducive to the comprehensive utilization of resources and centralized treatment of “three wastesâ€, and shut down a group of small pesticides, small dyes, and small paints that are backward in technology, high in energy consumption, and heavily polluted. Small businesses such as small chemicals, small rubber processing, and the elimination of a number of chemical products that have seriously polluted the environment.