China expands pilot water resource fees into a tax reform.
In an effort to provide greater water security to its people and economy, China created the Water Law in 1988 to better manage water resources. An essential elements of the law was the collection of water resource fees to strengthen the management of water resources. More recently, in 2016, the Chinese Government has begun moving away from water resource fees to water taxes. Here, Dongliang Shen and colleagues discuss how this transition from fees to taxes has been managed, why it is necessary and how the transition has led to more effective sustainable water management and conservation practices. When you consider this transition covers regions that are home to over 1.4 billion people (or almost 18% of the world’s population), these tax reforms are some of the most ambitious ever attempted. Consequently, there are many significant challenges in their implementation due to substantial regional, economic, and regulatory disparities (Central People’s Government of China, 2024).
