5.3.4: Tax Incentives Since 2006, Chinese law has provided a framework for a range of policies encouraging renewable energy. China promulgated its 2006 renewableenergy law to help its then-fledgling solar industry grow; at the time, China’s large solar manufacturers were just starting to go public on U.S. stock exchanges. Notably, the law has allowed “qualified” solar-component makers to apply for an exemption from half of the value-added tax they owe to the central government.217 218 Solar developers also typically are exempted from 50% of China’s value-added tax. The Chinese government first implemented that exemption in 2013 for two years.219 Later, the government extended it through Dec. 31, 2018. 220 On top of these central-government tax breaks, many local governments offer reductions in both value-added tax and income tax. These local tax breaks vary in their percentage and duration. As an example, in the Yangtze River Delta’s Zhejiang Province, the city of Jiaxing, home to prominent solar-glass supplier Flat Glass and to solar-module makers Jinko and Renesola, the municipal government offers larger tax breaks to solar
