Evaluation On The Policy Effects Of Sustainable Development Fund In Shanxi Coal Industry

Exhaustibility of mineral resources and negative externality of mining activities require to implement broad eco-environmental compensation to resource scarcity value,destruction of eco-environment and damage of regional sustainable development capacity,mineral resource tax is the main means of compensation in practice.As a typical coal-producing area,Shanxi province has been benefiting from coal industry while paying serious costs of ecological destruction,abnormal industrial structure and deteriorative environment of social development due to coal mining.Sustainable development fund of coal industry levied from 2007 to 2014 in Shanxi,is a kind of ecological environmental compensation tax(fee) essentially.As the fund has limitations on levy methods and management system,etc.,it obstructs market allocation of coal resources.In 2014,a comprehensive reform of "clearing fee and establishing tax" initiated in the field of mining tax leaded to the coal-related funds cancelled,and coal resource tax changed from a specific duty to an ad valorem.This reform aimed at establishing a normative tax system for mining industry,and constructing paid use system and eco-environmental compensation system gradually.Thus,evaluating the effects of sustainable development fund at this turning point will contribute to make beneficial practical experience of the fund integrate into the process of coal resource tax reform,in order to build regional eco-environmental compensation mechanism centred on coal resource tax.Our evaluation includes three aspects:rationality of the fund set,theoretical and empirical analyses of the policy effects.First,applying differential land rent theory,weak sustainable development theory and public goods theory to expound the theoretical foundation of levy and expenditure of the fund.Making mathematical analysis for the impacts of different forms and objects of tax,which organize a general theoretical framework for policy effects analysis of the fund.Secondly,discussing the rationality of the fund according to the context of its setting,then constructing mechanism of the fund from two aspects of levy and expenditure.Thirdly,utilizing time series regression analysis and empirical data analysis to test levy and expenditure effects of the fund respectively,analyzing the efficiency of expenditure in every year by DEA model,then summing up achievements and problems from institutional and practical levels of the fund.Finally,comparing sustainable development fund and coal resource tax to find theproper approach for transferring eco-environmental compensation function of sustainable development fund to coal resource tax.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Levy methods and objects of eco-environmental compensation tax should be appropriate to every stage of mining development.As sustainable development fund is established during the boom period of coal mining,selecting enterprises and individuals that engage in coal exploitment can have a beneficial effect on inhibiting excessive depletion of coal resources from primary link and curbing coal prices rising too fast.In this early stage of eco-environmental compensation system construction,relevant institutes are not fully developed,so amount-based levy method of sustainable development fund is more operable than others.However,with comprehensive reform of mining tax system,and coal industry turning into a recession phase,this method seperates from revenue of coal industry so that it isn’t conducive to market allocation of coal resources,therefore a specific duty should be changed to an ad valorem,and the fund should be transformed to a normal eco-environmental compensation tax.(2)Sustainable development fund makes its role at regional and interregional levels through levy and expenditure links.The short-term policy influence is mainly reflected within the region.In the levy link,the fund increases production costs to prompt reduction in the amount of coal mining,and coal enterprises turn to choose intensive mode of production,thereby boosting energy saving and emission reduction,thus improving energy consumption structure of society.In the expenditure link,the fund invests to regional economic,ecological and social fields with matched spending direction, size and proportion.(3)The empirical results show that the fund plays a significant role in inhibiting coal mining rate,conserving energy and reducing emission in the levy link,but it has weak effects on guiding enterprises to change their mode of production and improving structure of energy consumption.Expenditure effects of sustainable development fund include improving eco-environmental governance,accelerating development of new industries and optimizing environment of social development,its achievements highlight in the field of eco-environment governance.Limited by technology and management system,the efficiency of the fund expenditure in coal industry recession years decreases significantly, so the fund has not been made full use.(4)It is feasible for coal resource tax to undertake eco-environmental compensation function of sustainable development fund.Hence,it should be managed from levy,expenditure,distribution,technical support,legal protection and policyperformance evaluation system to push supporting system reform of coal resource tax.