The Research Of China's Environmental Tariff Collection And Management Rules

In recent years, the environmental pollution problems are increasingly severe as the rapid development of economy in China. In order to restraint the tendency of environmental degradation, more and more people claim for the collection of environmental protection tariff(hereinafter referred to as “environmental tariff). In June 2015, the Legal Affairs Office of the State Council published Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People's Republic of China(exposure draft)(hereinafter referred to as exposure draft) for public opinion, indicating the transformation from pollutant discharge to environmental tariff obtain partial results. Environmental tariff rather than pollutant discharge will be charged on the enterprises, public institutions and other producers. The exposure draft has triggered hot argument in the educational circles since its release, especially in the collection and management of environmental tariff. Different from the traditional taxes, the collection and management of environmental tariff has specialty and particularity. Special considerations shall be given into considerations in constructing and perfecting the collection and management system of environmental tariff rather than following the traditional system. The paper analyzes the deficiencies in the environmental tariff collection and management rules and the legal conflicts with current legal system starting from the concept and basic theory of environmental tariff collection and management, especially in the conflicts and contractions with Tax Collection and Management Law and pollutant discharge system. Finally, the paper presents the solutions on the basis of problem analysis. The paper is divided into two parts:(1) the deficiencies in environmental tariff collection and management rules;(2) the legal conflicts between environmental tariff collection and management rules and current system.The release of exposure draft has significance in environmental legislation, such as the transformation from pollutant discharge to environmental tariff, implementing “principle of law-based taxation” and moving towards the construction of environmental tariff system. Regardless of progress, there are still some deficiencies in environmental tariff collection and management rules. Firstly, the collection of environmental tariff requires the collaboration between tax authority and environmental protection department, while the responsibilities and roles of both parties are not specified and the departments lack coordination mechanism. Secondly, although the taxpayers are classified according to the industry, the specialty of environmental tariff is not taken into consideration and the classification is not refined. Thirdly, the tax regulation lacks tax inspection system, which goes against the regulation of environmental tariff. Fourthly, the collection and management of environmental tariff lacks special procedure guarantee and ordinary collection and management procedures cannot meet the requirements. Fifthly, no specific dispute solution mode is specified in the right relief of taxpayer.In addition, the collection and management of environmental tariff may involve legal conflicts. The predecessor of environmental tariff is pollutant discharge. After “fee-for-tax”, it is difficult to coordinate the pollutant discharge system and environmental tariff collection and management system. On the other hand, the collection and management of environmental tariff is applicable to Tax Collection and Management Law, while the collection and management of environmental tariff is special, such as the coordinated collection and management of tax authority and environmental department and the monitoring of pollutant discharge. The inconformity between environmental tariff collection and management system and tax collection and management tax shall be coordinated and perfected.Finally, the paper presents the perfecting suggestions regarding the deficiencies in environmental tariff collection and management rule. The rules shall specify the responsibilities of tax authority and environmental department and establish coordination mechanism. The taxpayers are divided into small-scale taxpayers and ordinary taxpayers, and the tax inspection and special collection and management procedures shall be established. In legal conflicts, coordinate the conflicts and contradictions in environmental tariff collection and management rules, tax collection and management law and pollutant discharge system. The rules will provide reference and assistance to the perfection of environmental tariff system.