China sets oil, gas resource tax rate at 5 %

China will levy a resource tax on crude oil and natural gas products at 5 percent of sales nationwide starting from Tuesday, the Ministry of Finance said Monday. The ministry also released specific resource tax rates on a variety of other commodities, including iron ore, coking coal and rare earth ore, for which the tax will remain based on sales volumes. The tax policy change came after the State Council, or China's Cabinet, announced earlier this month that resource taxes on domestic sales of crude oil and natural gas would be extended from a few of the country's regions to the entire nation starting from Nov. 1. The country introduced a 5-percent resource tax for oil and natural gas on a trial basis in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on June 1 of last year. Before the trial, the country's resource tax was calculated based on production volume, instead of sales value. The sales-based resource tax for oil and gas was extended to 11 other provinces in December of last year.