This website reports ( Central Government Portal Website www.gov.cn 2015-04-28 18:25 Source: China Government Network ) ： Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council 4 On the 28th, presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, deploying measures to refine policies related to the import and export of consumer goods and enrich shopping options for domestic consumers. Also determined measures to accelerate the upgrading of refined oil quality, thereby promoting air pollution control and technological upgrades in enterprises. Decided to implement a reform of the resource tax on rare earth, tungsten, and molybdenum resources, helping to streamline the relationship between resource taxes and fees.

To further promote fee-to-tax reform and streamline the relationship between resource taxes and fees, the meeting decided that, starting from 2015, ... Starting from May 1, the resource tax on rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum will be changed from being levied based on quantity to being levied based on value, and the tax rate will be reasonably determined in accordance with the principle of not increasing the tax burden on enterprises. At the same time, further efforts will be made to streamline and standardize fees and charges: the fee rate for compensation for mineral resources related to rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum will be reduced to zero; the collection of relevant price adjustment funds will be discontinued; and any fee or fund illegally established by local governments below the provincial level will be abolished. Research will also be conducted to establish a system of mineral resource rights fees.

The decisions made at this State Council executive meeting concerning the mining sector include two points worth noting: (1) For the first time, “mineral resources” have been formally and publicly proposed. Royalty (1) The “system”; (2) The reform shifting the resource tax from being levied based on quantity to being levied based on value has been extended to three mineral types: rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum; (3) The rate of the mineral resource compensation fee is adjusted according to market conditions; this time, the rate for rare earths, tungsten, and molybdenum has been reduced to zero.

[ Extended Interpretation]

Under the “new normal,” the mineral resource management system involves mining rights usage fees, payments, resource taxes, and mineral resources. How should a series of taxes and fees, such as compensation fees and ecological environment deposits, be restructured? The issue of top-level design, 2015 Year 01 In response to an inquiry from the research team on the “Regulatory System for the Assessment and Management of Mining Rights Fees” at China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Wang Ji, Chief Mining Rights Appraiser at Yue Zhejiang Zhiyuan Company, provided the following answer:

(1) Under the “new normal,” a renewed understanding and repositioning of consideration payments and their valuation management represent the fundamental root or origin of all issues. Objectively speaking, the current system design for consideration payments may not yet align with China’s objective requirements for mineral resource management at this stage. Under the system of state ownership of mineral resources, why does the state collect these consideration payments? And what exactly are these collected payments used for? It’s likely that the issue goes beyond merely recovering public fiscal investments (and sometimes, is it even necessary to recover public fiscal investments in the first place?), nor is it simply a matter of preventing the loss of state-owned assets. Rather, it should be viewed as a systemic issue involving the top-level design of both public institutions and market allocation mechanisms.

(2) Objectively speaking, the historical task of establishing a “price” system has largely been accomplished. The so-called “price” should now revert to the category of “property rights.” In economic terms, it should reflect compensation corresponding to the differential returns associated with natural endowments, as well as credit-based compensation for commitments to the rational development and utilization of mineral resources and for reducing ecological damage, among other things.

From this, it can be seen that the State Council has now proposed “mineral resources.” Royalty “System,” which is of great significance!