Tax for green growth

THE FASTER-THAN-EXPECTED TRANSITION OF the resource tax from a regional program to a national practice next month is more than welcome.

The Chinese government originally planned to roll out such a value-based resource tax across the country over a period of five years. The decision to expedite the process is laudable given the importance and urgency of conserving energy and reducing emissions.

To adequately bolster China's energy conservation and environmental protection efforts, Chinese policymakers should not only ensure the swift implementation of the new resource tax, which is based on sales value instead of production volume, more importantly, they should be ready to widen the list of such taxable resources from crude oil and natural gas to coal as soon as possible.