BEIJING - Taxation will play a larger role in China's drive to conserve more water as a water resource tax program is expanded. Starting Friday, nine provincial regions, including Beijing, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia will begin using a new water resource tax, following trials in north China's Hebei Province. Water conservation is important in a nation where per capita water resources are only 28 percent of the global average. The tax is levied on the use of surface and ground water, with higher rates on enterprises that consume a lot of water. Water use exceeding quotas or in overexploited areas will be met with tax rates up to four times more, while use for agricultural purposes will see a reduction or exemption. The use of water that has come from sewage treatment facilities will also have favorable rates. The taxation will prevent unreasonable use by consumers like ski resorts and car washes, said Wang Jianfan, an official with the Ministry of Finance (MOF). In Hebei, where water shortages are a perennial issue, total water consumption dropped by 460 million tonnes in 2016, after the first tax trial was launched 18 months ago. To cut production costs and save water, high water-consuming enterprises like steel, cement and chemical companies have installed water-saving devices and replaced groundwater with desalinated sea water and recycled wastewater. "The main purpose of the tax is not to increase fiscal revenue," said Cai Zili of the State Administration of Taxation. In the nine regions, a total of 13.3 billion yuan (about 2 billion U.S. dollars) of water resource fees were collected last year, only a small fraction of a local fiscal revenue that was calculated in trillions. The tax has a great ecological significance and will help water management, said Cai. Improvements have been made under new water management measures introduced in 2012 to address water shortages and pollution. In 2016, China's water consumption dropped from 610 billion cubic meters to 604 billion cubic meters, and consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP was down by 7.2 percent. The expansion of the tax trials is a step forward in overall reform of the resource tax system, which is more the 30 years old. Nearly 800 billion yuan of resource taxes were collected from 1994 to 2016, an annual average growth of 14.8 percent, with 95 billion yuan collected last year, according to MOF data. A draft law on resource tax was released earlier this month for public comment and covers resources like crude oil, natural gas and coal. The reform has brought huge tax reductions to resource-saving and environment-friendly businesses, with taxes reduced by 4.2 billion yuan in the year ending June 2017. design your own wristbandcustom made rubber braceletscustomise fidget spinner24 hour wristbands couponcustom livestrong braceletsglow wristbands
An eye specialist is warning parents and students about the misuse of laser pens, which can be purchased easily but have harmed the eyesight of a number of children in recent months.Laser pens are often used as pointers by teachers in classrooms, and have become popular with some schoolchildren in Chengdu, Sichuan province.Sold in many stationery shops in the city, most are priced between 5 yuan and 200 yuan ($0.8-$31). They can emit a narrow beam of light in either red, blue or green with a single click of a button.But pointing a laser beam into a person's eyes can damage the delicate organs. A number of students have sought treatment at the Ineye Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.Xie Airui, an eye specialist at the hospital, has received two boys since September whose visual acuity fell off sharply after incidents involving laser pens. The first boy's eyes were burned. He couldn't see an object 10 centimeters away. A checkup showed that the macular area of his retina had been damaged, Xie said.The macular area is the most sensitive part of the eye and critical for vision, she said.The second boy, a high school student, was 15 when he sought treatment from Xie in September, after a classmate pointed a laser pen at him.A test found that the macular areas of both his eyes were burned and had obvious scarring. He could only see objects within 50 centimeters, Xie said.The resulting scars were consistent with those left by clinical lasers, she said, noting that damage to the macular areas can be permanent.Four years ago, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued a warning that laser pens could harm consumers. But no market supervisors have taken up the matter in a serious way, according to Xu Bin, a lawyer in Chengdu.
