中国生态文明建设（中英对照）连载之四十
环境税费制度
本书由北京语言大学出版社出版，2014（教学课件光盘版） 作者 蒋高明
4.3.3环境税费制度
4.3.3 Environment taxation system
六年前，中国出现了一个“呼吸税”风波。起因是中国林业科学院的一位院士，本着对林业建设的好意，在广州召开的中国森林城市论坛上发表演讲，建议政府可以考虑对企业，甚至排放二氧化碳的市民征收生态税。他提出，居民生活在地球上，作为二氧化碳的排放者，应该为节能减排付出代价，“可以考虑让市民每个月买20块钱的生态基金”。这个论坛之后，中国公众的词典中出现了一个新名词——“呼吸税”，因此还引起了民众的一些议论。
Six years ago, there arose a “Breathing Tax” storm in China. One academician from the Chinese Academy of Forestry, with the intentions of contributing to forestry construction, proposed in a speech at the China Urban Forest Forum in Guangzhou that the government should consider imposing the “ecological tax” on enterprises or even citizens who discharge carbon dioxide. He suggested that people living on earth, should pay for energy conservation because they are emitters of carbon dioxide. “The government may consider making every person buy 20 Yuan of ecological fund a month”. After this forum, a new term “breathing tax” became popular in the public, which aroused some discussion.
中国林业科学院院士的言论也并非空穴来风。森林连同大量的自然生态系统，维持了对人类氧气、水分、材料和食物的供应，对于这些自然生态系统，本来就需要企业，甚至每个人都做出贡献，来予以保护。从企业利润中抽取部分作为环境保护专项资金，也是不少国家的通用做法。环境税，也有人称之为生态税、绿色税，是20世纪末国际税收学界兴起的概念。只不过，国外的各种生态税是涵盖在其消费的产品中的，没有专门提出。
The proposal is not groundless. Forests and other natural ecosystems help maintain the supply of oxygen, water, materials and food to humans. It is reasonable that enterprises and even every person should contribute to protecting these ecosystems. It is a common practice in some countries to extract profits from the enterprise as part of a special fund for environmental protection. Environmental tax, also known as eco-tax or green tax is a concept arising from international tax circles late in the 20th century. But, various foreign eco-taxes are covered in consumer goods, without any specific status.
由于国情和税收政策的差异，各国环境税收制度的具体内容不尽相同，但其基本内容通常都由两个部分构成：一是以保护环境为目的，针对污染、破坏环境的特定行为征收专门性税种，一般称之为环境保护税，是环境税收制度的主要内容。二是在其他一般性税种中，为保护环境而采取的税收调节措施，包括为激励纳税人治理污染、保护环境所采取的各种税收优惠措施，和对污染、破坏环境的行为所采取的加税措施。
Due to differences in national conditions and tax policies, the specific content of environmental taxation systems varies between countries, but the basic content usually consists of two parts. The first part is targeted at specific polluting behavior or destruction of the environment, and is for the purpose of protecting the environment. It is usually called ecological taxation, and considered the main content of the tax system. Included in other general taxes and as a tax adjustment measure for protecting the environment, the second part often contains tax credits in the form of incentives to encourage taxpayers to control pollution and protect the environment, allied with increased taxes for pollution and environmental damaging behaviors.
2011年12月，中国财政部同意适时开征环境税，按照循序渐进的原则，首先针对二氧化硫、废水污染物这类污染物征收。首先选择这类污染物，是因为它们排放量大，而且相对稳定，检测技术也比较成熟。在征税方式上，采用“费改税”的方式，即在开始征收环境税的同时，取消原有排污费。在税率上，也根据循序渐进的原则，在初期基本与排污费持平，随着改革的推进，各地根据不同污染物对当地环境的影响，合理调整环境税税率。该税种开征后，将被纳入地方税种，所得税款除按有关规定上缴国库外，主要由地方财政统一收支，以补充地方财政在污染治理方面的资金需求。
In December 2011, the Ministry of Finance approved of levying environmental taxes in due time. According to the principle of gradual and orderly progress, environmental taxes should be collected firstly on sulfur dioxide, water pollutants and other pollutants, because of their large amount and stable emissions and relatively mature detection technology. The tax-for-fee method is used, namely, to abolish the existing sewage charges in favor of environmental taxes. In terms of the tax rate, in the early stage, the rate is roughly on the same level as the sewage charge, and then, with the progress of the reform, the rate may be adjusted according to effects of different pollutants on local environment. This tax will be included in the local tax system, and the money used locally to supplement the needs for pollution control, with a prescribed part turned into the national treasury.
虽然一般情况下，增加税种会提高财政收入，但中国生态建设中的环境税，绝不能以增加收入为出发点。环境税制的政策目标，是纠正市场失效，保护环境，引导企业有良行为，实现可持续发展。在实践中，地方政府要敢于对资本说“不”，对违规企业实施严格管理，将污染物关在工厂里，关在它产生之前，这才是环境保护的正道。另外，征收上来的环境税要切实用在环境保护上，这样，普通百姓才不至于产生类似对“呼吸税”的误解。
Under normal circumstances, more taxes will mean increased revenues; however, the environmental tax in China must not take increasing revenue as a starting point. The objective of the environmental tax policy is to correct market failure, to protect the environment, to guide enterprise behavior and to achieve sustainable development. In practice, the local government should have the courage to say “no” to capital, to implement strict management of illegal enterprises, to prevent pollutants before they are produced. And this is the right way of environmental protection. In addition, the environmental tax should be spent on environmental protection, so that they are not to be misunderstood by ordinary people as in the case of the “Breathing Tax”.
