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The idea of sustainable development was gradually formed in the course of people's reflections on environmental problems. It's no more than ten more years since sustainable development was put forward as a widely accepted concept. And there is still no answer to how to realize sustainable development. On the other hand, it is known to all that tax is an important regulating instrument of the government. Can proper tax policies conduce to sustainable development? The present writer attempts to give an answer to the new topic in this paper.I. Meanings of sustainable development and ways to realize sustainable developmentSustainable development is a comprehensive concept. It contains three aspects, namely, the ecological sustainable development, economic sustainable development and societal sustainable development. It advocates a harmonious development within nature, mankind and between nature and mankind. Whereas the core of sustainable development is economic sustainable development which is based on the harmony between economy and environment.Economic development is both consistent with and contradictory to environment. As the growth of traditional economic development characterized by industrial development cannot effectively reflect the environmental benefit and cost, it often leads to over depletion of natural resources and over discharge of polluted stuff, which intensifies the contradictions between economy and environment. Consequently, in order to have sustainable development, we must take measures to reflect the environmental benefit and cost, to change the status of over depletion of natural resources and over discharge of polluted wastes, to balance the available natural resources and man's needs, and to balance the wastes of mankind and our capabilities to purify them. There are two ways to do so: one is to control the demands for natural resources and the amounts of discharge, the other is to improve the regenerative capacity of natural resources and the purifying capacity of environment.Tax is a vital instrument to regulate economy. It helps to realize sustainable development by limiting the consumption of natural resources and limiting the discharge of pollution. The tax policies concerned with sustainable development include three parts:a. Tax policies improving the continuous and permanent use of natural resources.b. Environmental tax policies.c. Scientific and technical tax policies.II Tax policies improving the continuous and permanent use of natural resources...