Research On The Tax Reform Of Taxable Air Pollutants And Water Pollutants

With the continuous advancement of China’s industrialization and urbanization,people are paying more and more attention to the protection of ecological environment.In 2003,the collection standard of sewage charges was unified nationwide,and the "Pollutant Measurement Law" was significantly adjusted.Different pollutants were evaluated according to the same standard equivalent by the unified quantification method of pollutants.In 2014,for the first time,regional differentiation standards were implemented,allowing local authorities to appropriately adjust the standards for the collection of air pollutants and water pollutants as needed.On January 1,2018,the Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China was formally implemented.Environmental protection tax replaced sewage charges,which not only standardized the tax collection process,but also improved the legal system of environmental protection in China.From sewage charges to environmental protection taxes,air pollutants,water pollutants,solid wastes and noise are the four major categories of objects to be collected.Among them,for solid waste and noise,a unified and fixed standard was implemented nationwide during the period of sewage charges,and a fixed tax amount standard was implemented in the environmental protection tax system,and the standards were consistent.The process of changing fees to taxes did not change.For air pollutants,water pollutants,sewage charges system period,the implementation of regional differentiation standards,the floating charge system for taxable pollutants;Under the 2018 environmental protection tax system,a dynamic tax adjustment mechanism will be implemented.The tax law only stipulates the highest tax rate and the lowest tax rate.Each region will determine the specific applicable tax rate within this range as needed.The vast majority of regions continue to use the time standard for sewage charges,and the tax standards for taxable air pollutants and water pollutants are shifted without change.Under this research background,firstly,the concept of environmental protection tax studied in this paper is defined theoretically,that is,the environmental protection tax in this paper is defined by narrow sense environmental protection tax: taxes levied on pollutants in order to protect the environment.According to the purpose of environmental protection tax,taxpayers,tax targets,tax basis,etc.,we can find that the environmental protection tax and sewage charges system are similar.Different economic development and environmental quality in different regions have great differences in the formulation of tax rates,resulting in tax burden shifting and pollution transfer,which have an impact on regional development.It is of great significance to study whether the tax standards in various regions can be adapted to the environmental quality and economic development,to raise the awareness of environmental protection in the whole society,and to better promote the construction of ecological civilization.According to the public goods theory,negative externality effect and double dividend theory,the government formulates different tax standards according to different regions,which can not only solve the problem of environmental pollution,but also promote the construction of ecological civilization and green development.Based on the regional differences of taxable air pollutants and water pollutants tax standards,this paper constructs a multiple linear regression model based on panel data of 31 provinces,autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government from 2010 to 2017,objectively deduces and estimates the differences between taxable air pollutants and water pollutants tax in different regions,and further explores the long-term dynamic relationship between regional economic development,environmental quality and taxable pollutant tax,and the interactive relationship between regional economic development level and environmental quality.In the part of empirical analysis,this paper uses fixed effect panel model to analyze,and divides 31 provinces and cities in the country into central,eastern and western regions for research respectively.First,benchmark regression is done,and then cross regression is done.In the selection of data,this paper studies taxable pollutant tax,environmental quality,economic indicators,and investment in environmental pollution control.In order to eliminate the mutual influence between indicators,economic indicators use principal component analysis to obtain comprehensive data.The results of theoretical analysis and empirical analysis show that,on the whole,the setting of air pollutant tax is basically corresponding to the regional air quality and economic development.The corresponding relationship between regional water quality and economic quality and water pollutant tax is not significant.Economicquality and environmental quality jointly affect the tax amount of air pollutants and water pollutants.This paper combines theory with reality and gives some suggestions,including increasing the taxable items of air pollutants and adjusting the standard of nitrogen oxide tax.For taxable water pollutants,a progressive tax system shall be implemented.Establish a dynamic adjustment mechanism for pollutant equivalent;Establish a dynamic overall coordination mechanism for regional environmental quality monitoring and pollutant tax adjustment.