A few days ago, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment officially issued Ministry Order No. 2 "Decision on Abolishing Regulations and Regulatory Documents Related to Pollutant Discharge Charges", abolishing 1 regulation and 27 normative documents related to pollutant discharge charges. The change of "fees" for environmental protection to "taxes" demonstrates the country's emphasis and determination on environmental improvement and opens a new era of environmental governance.

　　A few days ago, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment officially issued Ministry Order No. 2 "Decision on Abolishing Regulations and Regulatory Documents Related to Pollutant Discharge Charges", abolishing 1 regulation and 27 normative documents related to pollutant discharge charges. The sewage charging system implemented in our country for nearly 40 years has withdrawn from the stage of history.

　　As early as January 1, 2018, the "Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People's Republic of China" have been promulgated and implemented. Correspondingly, the "Regulations on the Administration of the Collection and Use of Sewage Discharge Fees" promulgated by the State Council on January 2, 2003 will be abolished simultaneously. This indicates that the "fee reform tax" in the field of environmental protection in my country has been confirmed and solidified in the form of legislation.

　　The "Environmental Protection Law (Trial Implementation)" promulgated in September 1979 established a sewage charging system. "Fee" was changed to "tax", but the change of one word represents the change of an era. The timely abolition of regulations and normative documents related to sewage charges is the inevitable result of changing the collection of sewage charges to environmental protection taxes, and it is also an inevitable requirement for consistency with higher-level laws and strict administration according to law.

　　The change of environmental protection fee to tax has risen to the legislative level, which demonstrates the country's emphasis and determination on environmental improvement, and urges our enterprises to pay more attention to environmental protection and strengthen the direction of reducing emissions and pollution. As a separate tax law to promote the construction of ecological civilization in my country, the "Environmental Protection Tax Law" will be conducive to economic transformation and achieve sustainable development in harmony with the economy and the environment. At the same time, it is the statutory responsibility of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment to promptly revise and abolish regulations and normative documents that conflict with higher-level laws, and it has an effect on promoting the construction of a law-based government.

　　The introduction of environmental protection tax is to ensure that the market plays a decisive role in allocating resources, and at the same time effectively play the regulatory role of taxation, so that the economy can enter a sustainable development track that is coordinated with the environment. For high-pollution and heavy-pollution enterprises, this is obviously a very important constraint. In addition, tax cuts are given to enterprises that reduce the concentration of pollutant discharge. This mechanism can effectively mobilize enterprises to increase investment in environmental protection facilities, improve technology and technology, and reduce pollutant emissions.

　　After the environmental protection tax is collected, the rigidity of law enforcement will be strengthened, forcing and encouraging enterprises to increase investment in environmental protection. Song Guojun, professor of the School of Environment at Renmin University of China and director of the Institute of Environmental Policy and Environmental Planning, said, "Implementing environmental protection tax is a fundamental measure. On the one hand, it can force environmental monitoring data to be more authentic, and on the other hand, it can force companies to Improve the level of environmental protection." Combining taxation and law, the actual effect is far greater than the supervision and restraint of administrative regulations on enterprises.

　　The Ministry of Ecology and Environment requires that, according to the principle of "who formulates, who is responsible, and whoever is in charge, who is responsible", the revision and abolition of regulations and normative documents that conflict with higher-level laws should be carefully done in a timely manner. Environmental protection tax is calculated based on the amount of pollutants discharged, "more pollutant discharge pays more tax, less pollutant discharge pays less tax". Starting from the tax lever, through the construction of a green tax system that promotes economic structural adjustment and development mode transformation.

　　The promulgation of the "Environmental Protection Tax Law" established the principle of "polluter pays" in legal form, improved the standardization and transparency of environmental protection tax collection, formed an effective restraint and incentive mechanism, and forced enterprises to reduce emissions. From this perspective, the collection of environmental protection tax will also make the cake of environmental protection industry bigger and bring huge development space for the whole market.

　　Previously, in order to promote the smooth progress of the environmental protection tax collection period, the tax department conducted training for taxpayers. At the same time, important basic tasks such as data transfer and information collection have laid a good foundation for the smooth introduction of environmental protection tax. On the basis of establishing the basic database of tax sources, the core collection and management system and online reporting system of taxation departments across the country have been deployed and launched. As of April 1, my country has identified, identified, and collected the basic information of more than 240,000 environmental protection tax payers.

　　Green water and lush mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains. The introduction of environmental protection tax will open a new era of environmental governance and bring people cleaner air, sweeter water, and a more deeply rooted sense of environmental "acquisition" in people's hearts.