ECO-FRIENDLY: A foundation is laid for a low-carbon recycling industrial park in Xinjiang on June 8, 2010 (XINHUA)

A new policy to reform the resource tax in west China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was released on June 1 by the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation (SAT). The new measure shifts from taxes based on output to taxes based on price, with the tax rate set at 5 percent.

China previously imposed a volume tax of up to 30 yuan ($4.39) per ton of crude oil sold and up to 15 yuan ($2.2) per thousand cubic meters of natural gas sold, according to a Xinhua report.

That means Xinjiang will earn more income from the resource tax. It also suggests that China's resource tax reform, which was in the planning stages for years before it was recently introduced in Xinjiang, will have a profound influence in terms of industrial operation and economic restructuring for Xinjiang, as well as for the whole country, according to Outlook Weekly magazine.

The resource tax reform that is debuting in Xinjiang, an important petrochemical production base in China, will greatly increase its local economic might, be conducive to local livelihood, and help reduce the gap between Xinjiang and inner provinces, said experts.

Last month, the Central Government convened a three-day work conference on development in Xinjiang, drawing a roadmap for its future development. By 2015, per-capita GDP in Xinjiang should reach the country's average level, while residents' income and their access to public services should reach the average level of the western region in China, according to the conference.

Obvious improvements must be achieved in Xinjiang's infrastructure facilities, self-development capacity, ethnic unity and social stability. Xinjiang should fulfill the goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society by 2020 by promoting coordinated regional development, improving people's standard of living, creating an eco-friendly environment, and ensuring ethnic unity, social stability and border security.

Highly focused on development in Xinjiang, the Central Government has formulated and implemented a series of preferential policies to support the area's development since reform and opening up began in 1978.

In 2007, the State Council, China's cabinet, released a series of policies on promoting development in Xinjiang, resulting in the construction of a large number of projects including water conservancy, traffic facilities, energy programs, eco-friendly environment items, social undertakings, livelihood improvement projects and resource development. Some of them have been completed and yielded positive economic results. All these efforts have helped develop the local economy, prompting Xinjiang to enter a new phase of development.

The ongoing Xinjiang regional economic revitalization plan, along with China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), will be designed to promote the region's long-term stability and leapfrog development.

(Source: Outlook Weekly, translated by LI YUZHU)