Industry insiders have learned that to ensure the smooth implementation of this new tax, tax authorities are working closely with environmental protection departments to prepare for its implementation. This includes transferring information on polluting enterprises, conducting tax source assessments, and developing a tax collection and management system for an information sharing platform. The implementing regulations for the Environmental Protection Tax Law are also about to be submitted to the State Council for review.

　　As my country's first standalone tax law promoting ecological civilization, the Environmental Protection Tax Law will come into effect on January 1, 2018. This also means that the pollution discharge fee system, which has been in place for nearly 40 years, will be phased out. Simultaneously, in terms of tax collection and management, after the environmental protection fee is replaced by a tax, the collection department will change from environmental protection departments to tax authorities. With the cooperation of environmental protection departments, a tax collection and management model of "enterprise declaration, tax collection, environmental monitoring, and information sharing" will be launched.

　　"As a newly levied independent green tax, the environmental protection tax targets taxable pollutants emitted into the tax base. Its tax calculation method differs from other taxes, making it highly specialized and its collection and management more complex. Therefore, the Environmental Protection Tax Law clearly stipulates that tax authorities and environmental protection departments should establish a collaborative working mechanism," said a relevant official from the Property and Behavior Tax Department of the State Taxation Administration.

　　Recently, the State Taxation Administration and the Ministry of Environmental Protection formally signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on the Collaborative Mechanism for the Collection and Management of Environmental Protection Tax," further strengthening inter-departmental cooperation and clarifying the division of responsibilities, taking a solid step towards the smooth implementation of the environmental protection tax.

　　Recently, the Ministry of Finance, the State Taxation Administration, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly issued a notice requiring all localities to comprehensively prepare for the implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law. This notice clarifies the various preparatory work that localities need to do before the implementation of the environmental protection tax, requiring strengthened organizational leadership, the establishment of a multi-departmental collaborative working mechanism under the leadership of local governments, and the formation of a good situation of each department performing its duties and working together to ensure the smooth launch and stable progress of the environmental protection tax collection. By the end of 2017, each province should determine the specific applicable tax rates for taxable air and water pollutants in its region, and publish and release the pollutant emission calculation methods as required.

　　"Next, the State Council will promulgate the Implementation Regulations of the Environmental Protection Tax Law, and we will also jointly formulate supporting policy documents with the finance and environmental protection departments," a tax official told the *Economic Information Daily* reporter. Current preparations for tax collection and administration mainly focus on three aspects: data, personnel, and systems. First, data-related preparations mainly involve summarizing historical pollution data of enterprises and preparing for future data sharing among information departments; second, taxpayer identification, currently mainly focusing on identifying polluting enterprises; and third, the development and testing of the online tax filing system for the Golden Tax System.

　　It is understood that the Environmental Protection Tax, as a newly levied tax, has a wide scope. The two systems of fee collection and taxation need to be converted, requiring much preliminary work in terms of policy and administration. This includes drafting the Implementation Regulations of the Tax Law, refining specific policies and administration measures, and developing an administration system. Matters authorized to be decided by local governments, including determining the specific applicable tax rates, will be determined by each province (autonomous region, municipality) according to legal procedures. Bie Tao, Director of the Policy and Regulations Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, recently stated that relevant departments have completed the draft of the Implementing Regulations of the Environmental Protection Tax Law and submitted it for review.

　　An industry insider pointed out that with a scientific tax system in place, establishing a standardized collection and management model to ensure full collection while facilitating taxpayer payment is also a crucial issue. "Because the environmental protection tax is a completely new tax, there is no experience to draw upon, so it presents a significant challenge for the tax authorities, and the workload will be substantial."

　　According to the Environmental Protection Tax Law, enterprises, institutions, and other producers and operators that directly discharge taxable pollutants into the environment are taxpayers. The taxable objects refer to the four categories of taxable pollutants—air pollutants, water pollutants, solid waste, and noise—as stipulated in the "Environmental Protection Tax Items and Tax Rates Table" and "Taxable Pollutants and Equivalent Values" attached to the Environmental Protection Tax Law.

　　Regarding the tax base, the emission volume of taxable pollutants is used as the tax base. Specifically, air pollutants and water pollutants are determined according to the pollution equivalent value converted from the emission volume; solid waste is determined according to the solid waste emission volume; and noise is determined according to the number of decibels exceeding the national standard.

　　"Since the environmental protection tax is based on the amount of taxable pollutants emitted, the emission levels need to be professionally measured by environmental protection departments. Tax authorities need to analyze and judge the accuracy of taxpayers' declared data based on the professional monitoring data from environmental protection departments," an industry expert pointed out. He emphasized that inter-departmental cooperation is crucial for the effective implementation of the environmental protection tax.

　　Jiang Zhen, associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Finance and Economics Strategy, told the *Economic Information Daily* that the environmental protection tax is a special tax, and its biggest challenge lies in collection and administration. Pollutant emission measurement involves complex measurement techniques and a complete set of standards. Tax authorities need to communicate and coordinate with environmental protection departments on technical basis and tax base determination, requiring more scientific and reasonable measurement methods.

　　He also stated that the revenue from the environmental protection tax is not large. The main purpose of reforming pollution discharge fees into a tax is not to raise fiscal revenue, but to guide polluting entities to reduce pollutant emissions through tax leverage, creating a better production and living environment for the people. Its environmental significance far outweighs its fiscal revenue significance.