China to give tax sweeteners for green production

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is to announce tax incentives to boost energy saving and renewable energy sectors, and is drawing up details of resource tax reforms, a government official said on Sunday.

Producers will be granted tax holidays or cuts in tax, while importers of green equipment will enjoy cuts in value-added and consumption tax, said Su Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance's Research Institute for Fiscal Science.

On the other hand, energy guzzlers and polluters will be punished with higher consumption tax, he added, without giving details.

"These incentive policies will be announced very soon," Su told Reuters on the sidelines of a seminar on how China's financial sector can facilitate energy efficiency.

After pursuing growth at almost any cost, China is increasingly focusing on cleaning up its environment and making its economy less resource-intensive.

The government will make energy-saving and environmentally friendly products an important item in annual procurement by government agencies, Su said.

Beijing is formulating a new resource tax scheme that will be based on the value of the products instead of quantity to curb investment in resource-intensive sectors, Su said, confirming media reports.

"To raise the resource tax is a very urgent issue," he said.

China's output-based tax on coal and other minerals in place since 1994 was too low after surges in resource prices, he said.