An analysis of China coal resource tax reform and its implications on resource saving

Abstract

As a traditional and feasible policy instrument, taxation is regarded for dealing with energy issues in politics and governance. This paper focused on the coal resource tax in China as an example of the energy tax and analysed the impacts of the tax system on fiscal revenue, resource conservation and energy savings for the period of 1994-2011. Based on this analysis, this paper discussed the goals and challenges of the 2011 coal resource tax reform, which changed the tax system from a volume-based system to a fixed-rate ad valorem one based on sales.