BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Saturday that it will institute a resource tax on coal of between 2 percent and 10 percent beginning on Dec. 1, the first official numbers to be issued for the long-anticipated plan.
The State Council, China's cabinet, said in September that the country would impose a new resource tax on coal and cancel a series of existing charges in a move to simplify the tax structure for struggling coal producers.
"The coal resource tax range will be between 2 percent and 10 percent, with the specific tax rates to be set by provincial-level finance departments within the above mentioned range," the Ministry of Finance said in a statement posted to its website.
The range is in line with expectations, based on previous reports in Chinese media. Changes to the resource tax are aimed at encouraging the more efficient use of coal, which has been blamed for the country's severe air pollution problems.
Coal producers in China, the world's biggest consumer of the fuel, have been struggling as a result of a massive supply glut and a collapse in prices. More than 70 percent of firms have made losses this year, according to the China Coal Industry Association.
The ministry also said in a separate notice that the government will abolish the resource conservation tax for crude oil and natural gas while lifting the exploration tax to 6 percent from 5 percent.
(Reporting by Michael Martina and Fayen Wong; Editing by Toby Chopra)