From today (July 1st), China will collect price-based resource taxes nationwide. China has reformed the tax over the past 32 years with the purpose of developing the economy and protecting the environment.

China launched it resources tax in 1984, covering the oil, natural gas and coal sectors. Ten years later in 1994, the tax coverage was extended to seven major categories, including non-metal minerals, black minerals, nonferrous metal minerals and salt. But before 2010, the resource tax was calculated on sales, not prices.

China reformed the resource tax again in June 2010 by changing the tax calculation based on prices and pilot trials on crude oil and natural gas in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Since then, price-based resource tax reforms have been gradually implemented through the nation. The price-based tax was extended to the oil and gas sectors in every region of China in 2011. In 2014, the tax was extended to the coal sector. Last year, rare earth, tungsten and molybdenum were also included in the reforms.