Chinese lawmakers mull law on farmland occupation taxes

Chinese lawmakers on Monday began reviewing a draft law on farmland occupation taxes, as the country pushes forward law-based taxation reform.

The draft law was submitted to the Standing Committee of National People's Congress (NPC) for deliberation at a session that runs from Monday to Friday.

Entities and individuals who occupy farmland to build houses or other non-agricultural construction should pay farmland occupation taxes, according to the draft law. The construction of water conservancy facilities on farmland will be exempt from tax.

The building of military installations, schools, kindergartens, social welfare institutions, and medical institutions on farmland will be exempt from the farmland occupation taxes as well, it said.

The draft law was based on an interim regulation on farmland occupation taxes which was first promulgated by the State Council in 1987 and revised in 2007.

The collection of farmland occupation taxes has played an important role in promoting the rational use of land resources, and strengthening the protection of arable land, said Minister of Finance Liu Kun while explaining the draft to lawmakers at the start of the NPC Standing Committee session.

A total of nearly 1.42 trillion yuan (207.3 billion U.S. dollars) was collected in farmland occupation taxes between 2008 and 2017 in China, official statistics showed.