China Speeds Up Imposition Of Higher Gasoline, Diesel Taxes

[hatrack]

BEIJING — China has accelerated plans to impose a tax on gasoline, diesel and kerosene to encourage conservation amid surging oil imports, a government news agency said Thursday, citing a Cabinet official. The report by the official Xinhua News Agency didn't give a timetable for imposition of the tax.

The government wants to roll out the tax in the near future and is closely watching world oil prices, Xinhua said, citing Vice Finance Minister Liao Xiaojun.

Introduction of the long-planned tax had been postponed because the government said current oil prices were too high for the Chinese public to bear the added cost.

But the government is worried about soaring fuel consumption and the threat of worsening air pollution in China's smoggy cities amid a boom in the number of private vehicles on the road. Soaring demand for gasoline, diesel and kerosene will reach 230-250 million metric tons in 2020, up from 75 million tons in 2000, according to a recent Xinhua report.

EDIT

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4075371.html

[NNadir]

1. High taxes on fossil fuels are a very, very, very, very good idea.