Chinanews, Beijing, March 22 - In China Development Forum 2007, Zhang Baoguo, Vice-Minister of National Development and Reform Commission, admitted that it would be difficult to collect fuel tax in China, though China put the composition of practical fuel tax policies on the agenda as early as 2005. In the future, China will stick to its current energy policy of economization.

 

"Oil products in China are much cheaper than in many other parts of the world, but if the fuel tax is collected, the oil price might become higher than the international level. It might harm the people's interest," said Zhang.

 

"Besides, we must take weak industries like fishery and agriculture into consideration, as current oil price is high enough for them," Zhang added.

 

China will put an end to its expressway tolls if the fuel tax is collected. In fact, China has the second-longest toll expressways in the world, as it used to rely on loans to build the expressways, and it was natural to collect tolls to repay the loans. However, this change in policy will cause 300 thousand of people who work in toll stations to lose their jobs, which must be take into consideration, too.