China will tax disposable wooden chopsticks and luxury items such as yachts, the government says, citing a need to protect the environment and redress the gap between rich and poor.
The Finance Ministry announced the policy change, which takes effect on April 1, on Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Buyers of yachts, golf balls and golf clubs will face a 10 percent tax, while luxury watches will be taxed at a rate of 20 percent, it said.
PHOTO: AP
The change reflects the leadership's goals of countering the widening gap between rich and poor and of protecting the environment, which has been ravaged by more than two decades of industrialization.
The current tax on skin care and hair care products such as shampoo will end on April 1, the report said.
That tax was imposed in 1994, when such products were still considered luxuries. Thanks to China's rising level of affluence, they are now viewed as daily necessities.
The 5 percent taxes on disposable wooden chopsticks and on wooden floor panels are intended to discourage consumption of items that are blamed for wasting scarce timber resources, the ministry said.
China makes about 15 billion pairs of throwaway chopsticks a year, consuming some 2 million cubic meters of wood, the report said.
To discourage waste of petroleum products, the government will levy taxes on naphtha, solvents, lubricants and aviation fuel, the ministry said.
But the taxes will be only partially imposed to help cushion the impact on industries already facing price hikes due to rising crude oil prices.
The government will also adjust the tariffs on automobiles and motorcycles to spur the use of smaller vehicles that burn less fuel, part of a wider move to tax luxury goods and control energy consumption.
Beginning on April 1, the top tax rate for autos with engine displacements larger than 2 liters will surge to 20 percent from 8 percent, the ministry said on its Web site.
"The change will force carmakers to produce smaller cars in future," said Wang Zhihui, an automobile analyst at Shenyin Wanguo Research & Consulting Co in Shanghai. "Manufacturers will have to raise car prices to cover the increase in taxes to protect their profit margin."
Vehicle ownership by individuals more than doubled to 13.65 million units in 2004 from 6.25 million in 2000, according to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
As many as 5.76 million new cars, trucks and commercial vehicles were sold last year in China, 14 percent more than in 2004.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique