Economy

China may levy resource tax of 10% on oil, gas

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-05 11:05

China's planned resource tax on the sale of oil and gas may be as high as 10 percent, Bloomberg reported Thursday citing the Shanghai Securities News.

The government may levy a tax of 5 percent to 10 percent of sales value, according to an amendment to temporary regulations on the matter, the newspaper reported, without giving details on a timeframe or geographical regions for implementation.

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China has proposed a nationwide resource tax to raise funds to develop the poorer western regions, which are rich in oil, gas and coal reserves. The government first introduced a trial tax of 5 percent in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in June, which it widened to other western provinces a month later.

Coal will still be taxed by volume rather than price levels and the tax may be raised to between 0.3 yuan and 8 yuan a ton from 0.3 yuan to 5 yuan, the newspaper said, citing the amended rules.

Nationwide introduction of the taxes may be delayed because of inflation concerns, the Shanghai-based newspaper reported, citing unidentified people.