Oil taxes boost Chinese coffers

Oil products’ consumption taxes have contributed greatly to China’s financial revenues, said the country’s Ministry of Finance (MoF). This suggests that the consumption tax levied on oil products has taken the lion’s share of China’s newly added financial revenues, the MoF said. China began levying consumption tax on oil products at the outset of 2009, with the tax on naphtha, solvents, and lubricant oil raised from the previous 0.2-1 yuan (US$0.03-0.15) per liter, tax on jet kerosene and fuel oil from 0.1-0.8 yuan (US$.01-0.12) per liter, and tax on gasoline and diesel fuel from 0.8-1 yuan per liter (US$0.12-0.15) per liter. (November 23, 2009)