China began implementation on June 1 of a revenue policy favoring science popularization, sources with the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) said Thursday.
MOST Secretary-General Shi Dinghuan said the policy, jointly constituted by the Ministry of Finance and four other departments, is the first of its kind implemented in China since its establishment in 1949.
According to the policy, value-added tax on science and technology newspaper publishing and the production of audio-visual goods will be returned by the end of 2005.
Sales tax will be exempted for science and technology museum tickets, nature museums, planetariums, observatories, seismology stations, and bases for science popularization in universities and research institutes, provided they are open to the public.
If the institutions import video tapes for science popularization by the end of 2005, tariffs, import value-added tax, and sales tax for television rights transfer will be exempted if the products are imported with television rights.
Tariff and import value-added tax will be exempted for other imported audio-visual products.
Ticket income from activities for science popularization held by government departments and science associations above the county level will also be exempted from sales tax.
The policy also encourages donations from non-profit social societies and government departments to institutions for science popularization by levying less income tax to donating units.
(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2003)
