01/07/03

China gives tax breaks to science communicators

By: Cui Ning

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>China gives tax breaks to science communicators</h1>
<h4>By: Cui Ning</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><P>[BEIJING] China has introduced tax breaks for organisations that promote science communication. Under new legislation introduced this month, science museums, planetariums, and laboratories in colleges and research institutions that regularly open their doors to the public will be exempt from import duties and value-added tax (VAT).</P><br />
<P>Publishers of scientific and technological newspapers and radio and video products are also now exempt from VAT, and science museums will no longer be required to pay business taxes on income from entry ticket sales.</P><br />
<P>“This could be good news for science museums across the country and for the work of [other organisations involved in] the public understanding of science, which need more funds,” says Wang Xiaobin of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, China’s largest non-governmental organisation dedicated to disseminating science to the public.</P><br />
<P>This is the first time since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 that the government has implemented a preferential tax policy to enhance the public understanding of science.</P><br />
<P>Li Yongwei, an official in charge of science communication at the Ministry of Science and Technology, says that financial investment in science communication has long been insufficient, and that policies to support this field have been weak.</P><br />
<P>China has more than 400 science museums, two thirds of which are found in the more developed eastern areas of the country. </P>The government plans to promote science communication in the west of the country through an annual science week in May, and by encouraging academic institutes to disseminate scientific knowledge to teenagers, government officials and especially to farmers, who make up the bulk of China’s population.</p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/china-gives-tax-breaks-to-science-communicators/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/china-gives-tax-breaks-to-science-communicators/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

[BEIJING] China has introduced tax breaks for organisations that promote science communication. Under new legislation introduced this month, science museums, planetariums, and laboratories in colleges and research institutions that regularly open their doors to the public will be exempt from import duties and value-added tax (VAT).

Publishers of scientific and technological newspapers and radio and video products are also now exempt from VAT, and science museums will no longer be required to pay business taxes on income from entry ticket sales.

“This could be good news for science museums across the country and for the work of [other organisations involved in] the public understanding of science, which need more funds,” says Wang Xiaobin of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, China’s largest non-governmental organisation dedicated to disseminating science to the public.

This is the first time since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 that the government has implemented a preferential tax policy to enhance the public understanding of science.

Li Yongwei, an official in charge of science communication at the Ministry of Science and Technology, says that financial investment in science communication has long been insufficient, and that policies to support this field have been weak.

China has more than 400 science museums, two thirds of which are found in the more developed eastern areas of the country.

The government plans to promote science communication in the west of the country through an annual science week in May, and by encouraging academic institutes to disseminate scientific knowledge to teenagers, government officials and especially to farmers, who make up the bulk of China’s population.