Ministry proposes a hike in special consumption tax on cigarettes, beer, spirits
The Ministry of Finance has proposed to increase the special consumption tax (SCT) on a number of items harmful to health including tobacco, beer, and alcoholic products to limit imports, production and consumption.
Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of Finance has proposed to increasethe special consumption tax (SCT) on a number of items harmful to healthincluding tobacco, beer, and alcoholic products to limit imports, productionand consumption.
The ministry is collecting public opinions on the proposal to develop therevised Law on Special Consumption Tax in which the SCT imposed on theseproducts should be increased, saigondautu.com.vn reported.
In addition, the ministry also proposed to add new tobacco products and newequipment and trading in online video game services to be subject to excisetax, according to the online newspaper.
The MoF said the taxes on alcohol and beer in Vietnam are still low. Currently,the country applies an excise tax on alcohol of 35-65%, beer 65% and cigarettes75%.
According to the World Health Organisation calculations, the tax rate onlyaccounted for about 30% of the retail price, compared to 40-85% recorded inmany countries.
Though the SCT on alcohol and beer products had increased from 2016 to 2018, Vietnamwas still the highest beer consumer in Southeast Asia and the third in Asiaafter Japan and China. In 2019, the average beer consumption per person was47.6 litres, 1.2 times the number of 2015 while the consumption of spirits andwhite wine per person was 3.4 litres, 1.02 times the 2015 figure.
Meanwhile, tobacco taxes accounted for approximately 38.85% of the retail saleprice of cigarettes in Vietnam, much lower than 50-80% seen in other countriessuch as Thailand (70%), Singapore (69%), France (80%).
The World Health Organisation and the World Bank have recommended that theproportion of consumption tax should account for 66-75% of the retail price ofcigarettes./.
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Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) 
