People's Republic of China (PRC)'s Ministry of Finance and State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China recently issued a notice, deciding to adjust the automobile consumption tax from September 1 day, 2008, to substantially increase the consumption tax rate of large-displacement passenger cars above 3.0 liters, and to reduce the consumption tax rate of small-displacement passenger cars below10 liters.
According to the notice, the tax rate of passenger cars with a displacement of 3.0 liters or more to 4.0 liters (including 4.0 liters) was raised from 15% to 25%, and the tax rate of passenger cars with a displacement of 4.0 liters or more was raised from 20% to 40%, by 67% and100% respectively; The tax rate for passenger cars with displacement of 1.0L (including 1.0L) is reduced from 3% to 1%, with a decrease of two percentage points.
This is the second time since April 2006 1 that the state has adjusted the automobile consumption tax rate, with the aim of curbing the production and consumption of large-displacement vehicles and encouraging the production and consumption of small-displacement vehicles.
The person in charge of China Automobile Industry Association said that due to the small production and sales volume of domestic large-displacement passenger cars, the adjustment of consumption tax rate has limited impact on domestic passenger cars, but it has a greater impact on imported passenger cars, which is conducive to improving the structure of imported cars.
Domestic large-displacement passenger cars account for less than 1%.
At present, there are not many large-displacement passenger cars in China, and the production and sales volume are also very small. According to the statistics of China Automobile Association, from June to July, 2008, the total sales volume of domestic passenger cars with a displacement of 3.0 liters or more was only over 20,000. Compared with the sales of 4,099,300 domestic passenger cars in the first seven months, the proportion is only about 0.5%. Due to the small output, a considerable part of these more than 20,000 large-displacement cars and SUVs are assembled in China with imported complete sets of spare parts.
According to the statistics of China Automobile Association, due to the influence of high oil prices and other factors, the domestic sales of passenger cars below 1.0 liter accounted for about 1 1% of the total sales of passenger cars from June to July, 2008, a substantial increase over the same period of last year. Jin Yibo, spokesman of Chery Automobile, believes that reducing the consumption tax rate of small-displacement vehicles will reduce the cost of automobile manufacturers and help small-displacement vehicles to expand consumption.
More than 40% of imported cars are large-displacement cars.
The increase of consumption tax on large-displacement vehicles has little impact on the domestic automobile market, but it has a great impact on the imported automobile market. At present, large-displacement cars with 3.0 liters or more account for more than 40% of imported cars.
According to customs statistics, in the first half of 2008, China imported more than 265,438 vehicles (including complete sets of spare parts)+/kloc-0.00 million vehicles, including 32,353 cars of 3.0 liters and above and 57,508 SUVs of 3.0 liters and above. Together with other models, more than 90,000 large-displacement passenger cars were imported, accounting for 43% of the total imported cars.
Large-displacement cars belong to minority consumption, and their proportion in China's automobile consumption is not high. However, under the situation that the international oil price has hit record highs and the domestic energy situation is increasingly tense, the domestic automobile consumption has gone against the trend, and the models with large displacement and high fuel consumption have become popular, especially the import of SUVs has increased substantially year after year.
Experts from China Automobile Import and Trade Center estimate that the import cost of 3.0-4.0-liter passenger cars will increase by about 13% and that of 4.0-liter passenger cars will increase by 33% after the consumption tax on large-displacement vehicles is raised. These increased costs will inevitably be passed on to consumers. The sharp rise in car prices will curb the consumption will of some people and help to change the structure of imported cars at present.
However, there are also views that private consumers of large-displacement passenger cars are mainly wealthy people, and they are not particularly sensitive to prices. It remains to be seen how much effect raising the consumption tax on big-name cars will have on curbing the consumption of private large-displacement cars.
Automobile industry needs combination boxing for energy saving and emission reduction.
In recent years, the number of cars in China has risen sharply, and the demand for gasoline and diesel oil has increased sharply, resulting in increasingly serious air pollution. At the same time, with the increasing dependence of oil on foreign countries, the problem of energy security has become very prominent, and it is urgent to strengthen energy conservation and emission reduction in the automobile industry.
Compared with developed countries, the number of cars in China is still very low, but this has brought great pressure to the fuel supply. A person in charge of the Ministry of Environmental Protection pointed out that if the automobile growth in China continues according to the current trend, it will be unbearable in terms of energy and environmental protection.
Ying Zhao, a researcher at the Institute of Industry and Economics of China Academy of Social Sciences, said that it is not enough to raise the consumption tax rate only to curb the production and consumption of large-displacement vehicles and encourage the consumption of small-displacement vehicles. It is also necessary to rationalize the price of refined oil, levy fuel tax as soon as possible, standardize the standards and regulations of automobile fuel efficiency, and implement preferential measures for small-displacement vehicles in terms of taxation, parking fees and tolls. At the same time, it is necessary to establish the concept of green automobile consumption in the whole society and change the social atmosphere, value orientation and lifestyle that are not in line with building a conservation-oriented society in automobile consumption.