资源税法对地热产业的影响及政策建议

 《中华人民共和国资源税法》和各地实施细则自颁布和实施以来,在地热学术和产业界产生了较大反响和部分争议。尽管基于《资源税法》第三条的原则,应优先按价计税,但在目前地方执行细则中,对回灌地热水征收资源税都只规定了按量（每立方米）计征。因此,法律附件和各地的这种规定都未能严格遵守地热能利用的事实理性,即地热能利用的是热能而不是水量。对于资源税法中关于地热水原矿的定义,以及未回灌的地热水是否视同对外销售行为,目前的法条定义不够明确。且该法中采用立方米体积单位作为地热水计税单位的做法,会在高温地热发电领域产生应税产品计量不确定、不科学的问题。按照各地现有实施细则对回灌地热水开征资源税,会对中国的地热发电和供暖产业造成不利影响。在国家碳中和的长期宏观政策目标下,这一做法将会减缓地热这一清洁能源对传统高碳能源的替代。建议在现有法律框架下对回灌地热水免征资源税,同时通过立法解释明确地热原矿的定义,并将地热水的计税单位改为质量单位吨。

Impact of resource tax law on the geothermal industry in China and corresponding policy suggestions

Since the implementation of the "Resource Tax Law of the People's Republic of China" on September 1, 2020, a significant response is seen from the Chinese geothermal industry. Through the study of the law and the corresponding local implementation guidelines, it is found that there exist several conflicts between the current local implementation guidelines and the upper law. More specifically, when the resource tax is imposed on the amount of the reinjected geothermal water, such taxation practice will violate the upper law, against the third article of the principle of the tax on the amount of sales, as well as against the fifth article of the principle of the exemption on the self-usage for continuous production. These conflicts will very likely lead to judicial litigations and law suits in the future. With respect to the concept of"raw geothermal water"in the Resource Tax Law, and whether the reinjected geothermal water can be treated as a behavior of sales, the current legal definition is not clear enough. Moreover, the method of adopting the volume unit of the cubic meter as the taxation unit of the geothermal water will cause uncertainty and non-uniqueness in the measurement of taxable products in the geothermal electricity generation industry. In terms of policy recommendations, this paper proposes that the resource tax should be exempted on the reinjected geothermal water under the existing legal framework. At the same time, the definition of"raw geothermal water"needs to be clarified through judicial interpretation, and a revision process should be initiated to change the taxation unit of geothermal water to the mass unit of ton.