Wind power resource tax is coming, and the four acquisition models are going to be invalid?

Not long ago, the People's Government of Ordos City issued the "Ordos New Energy Development Action Plan (2024-2025)". For wind power and photovoltaics, the most eye-catching thing is not the goal of more than 50 million kilowatts of total grid-connected scale by 2025, but the two explorations mentioned in the "plan": one is to explore the introduction of an ecological compensation mechanism, and the other is to explore the levy of wind and solar resource tax on new energy development enterprises.

For the latter, the "plan" points out that if the levy is based on volume, the tax amount will be 0.005 yuan/kWh - 0.050 yuan/kWh according to the water resource tax collection method of hydropower enterprises. If ad valorem taxation is adopted, it shall be levied at a tax rate of 2%-10% according to the feed-in tariff of wind and solar resources with reference to the management measures for coal, oil and gas and other resource taxes.

The author has consulted China's documents on the collection and management of water resources tax for hydropower generation, and it is true that hydropower generation tax is paid. On November 24, 2017, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the Ministry of Water Resources issued the Implementation Measures for Expanding the Pilot Reform of Water Resources Tax, proposing that the tax on water withdrawals for hydropower generation directly under the central government and across provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in the pilot provinces shall be 0.005 yuan per kilowatt hour. If the amount of water resources tax for hydropower intake of cross-provincial (autonomous region, municipal) boundary river hydropower station is inconsistent with the collection standard of water resource fee of the non-pilot provinces involved, it shall be implemented according to the higher standard。

In addition, the above-mentioned "Measures" also mention that the standards for the collection of water resource fees shall be formulated by the price departments of the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government in conjunction with the financial departments and water resources administrative departments at the same level, and shall be submitted to the people's governments at the same level for approval, and shall be reported to the price departments, financial departments and water resources administrative departments of the State Council for the record.

Therefore, the Ordos wind and solar resource tax should be levied according to the tax amount of 0.005 yuan/kWh - 0.050 yuan/kWh. In this article, the standard of 0.005 yuan/kWh is indeed the minimum standard of hydropower resource tax, and 0.050 yuan/kWh is the maximum standard of water resource fee set by some provinces.

If the Ordos wind and solar resource tax is paid in an ad valorem manner, refer to the management measures for coal, oil and gas and other resource taxes. China's resource tax collection standards for coal, oil and gas are clearly stipulated in the "Resource Tax Law of the People's Republic of China" implemented on September 1, 2020, and its resource tax schedule shows that the resource tax rate for coal is 2%-10%, and that for oil and gas is 6%. Therefore, Ordos refers to the management measures for resource taxes such as coal, oil and gas, and levies the on-grid tariff of wind and solar resources at a tax rate of 2%-10%, which is well documented.

Before Ordos explored the imposition of a wind and solar resource tax on new energy development enterprises, the wind and solar resource tax had been discussed at a higher level. According to reports, in August 2022, the Department of Finance of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and China Consulting Corporation jointly held an expert seminar on wind and solar resource tax in Beijing, and the Ordos Finance Bureau was among the participants.

In the above-mentioned meeting, experts and scholars in the field of national finance and taxation conducted in-depth discussions on the possible path of transforming wind and solar resources into local financial resources, the necessity and feasibility of levying wind and solar resource tax, the main obstacles and countermeasures. The experts at the meeting agreed that Inner Mongolia, as a province with large wind and solar resources, actively developing renewable energy such as wind power and photovoltaic is of great significance to the country's realization of the dual carbon goal and ensuring energy security, and exploring the transformation of wind and solar resources into local financial resources is conducive to the efficient and rational use of wind and solar resources in the autonomous region and the realization of high-quality economic development.

In fact, today, wind power and photovoltaic resources have long become a valuable and price-oriented resource. Some experts pointed out that the current cost of obtaining wind power resources is basically between 1,200-2,000 yuan/kW depending on the project, and some projects have even reached 3,000 yuan/kW.

Previously, many provincial authorities have issued documents pointing out that it is strictly forbidden to increase the additional burden of new energy construction projects in the name of exchanging resources for industry, especially before the project is approved, and it is not allowed to "encircle" land resources and collect various resource fees in disguise.

However, in practice, obtaining the right to develop wind energy resources often needs to be achieved through four modes: First, local governments require enterprises to invest in building factories to stimulate local economic growth and employment, which is the cleanest and most reasonable way. Second, enterprises should make direct economic contributions to the local area in accordance with the requirements of local governments. For example, the construction of some office buildings, schools, hospitals, ports, wharves, roads and other public service facilities, the so-called money to contribute power. The third is to establish a joint venture platform company between the development enterprise and the energy enterprise under the local government, and buy out the shares of the other party after the project is connected to the grid. Fourth, the development enterprises under the supervision of local governments directly carry out wind power development and obtain electricity price benefits.

The wind and solar resource tax, on the other hand, may convert the one-time payment under certain methods into continuous tax payment.

Whatever form it takes, however, paying for wind energy resources is now inevitable. Some experts even believe that in the process of wind power development, the income of the development enterprise is very important, but the income of the party that can control the wind resources cannot be ignored, after all, only if they support the development of wind power, the project can be completed, and there will be the benefits of the participants in the subsequent links.

"In the past, the whole society subsidized new energy, and we paid a subsidy for every kilowatt-hour of electricity we used. After parity, new energy began to feed back to the society to pay resource tax, which can be regarded as a way to give back to the society. The expert said.