The Highest Tax Standard on “Earth”

China’s Ministry of Finance and State Administration of Taxation issued a notice stating that beginning April 1st, China will increase the tax standard on rare earth resources. This new rate is ten times higher than the original rate.

After adjustment, the tax standards of rare earth resources will be: 60 RMB per ton of light rare earth resources including bastnaesite and monazite ore and 30 RMB per ton of middle and heavy rare earth minerals including xenotime and nonionic rare earth ores. Currently, taxes range from 0.5RMB to 3RMB per ton or per cubic meter.

Analysts believe that the Chinese government is taking measures to control the rare earth industry. During the annual session of China’s parliament, a committee member suggested to raise the taxes on rare earth resources to change the supply and demand. He said it could reduce smuggling and hoarding by the other countries. The current price of rare earth metals is $44,361 USD per ton, which is almost twice as much as last year. It will continue to steadily increase.

According to statistics, China only has 27 million tons of rare earth in storage. The proportion of total reserves in the world dropped from 70% to 30%. The middle and heavy rare earths can only be used for fifteen to twenty years. China may become an import country in the future.

Source: Finance

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Image credit: Theodoregray