Continuing the 43rd session of the National Assembly Standing Committee, on the afternoon of March 10, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on explaining, accepting and revising the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).
According to current law, gasoline is one of the goods subject to special consumption tax. The Standing Vice Chairwoman of the Committee for Petition and Supervision Le Thi Nga said that the nature of special consumption tax is aimed at luxury goods, not to encourage consumption. Meanwhile, gasoline is an essential commodity, which cannot be absent from people's lives.
We impose special consumption tax on essential goods, which is not in accordance with the nature and purpose of this tax price, Ms. Nga said and suggested that the drafting agency reconsider whether to apply special consumption tax to this item.
"I request the appraisal agency to provide additional explanations when considering the need to apply special consumption tax on gasoline products," said Ms. Nga.
In addition to gasoline, the current law also stipulates that air conditioners with a capacity of 90,000 BTU or less are subject to special consumption tax at a rate of 10%. In the draft revised law, the Government proposed to keep this provision.
The Standing Deputy Head of the Committee for Petition and Supervision Le Thi Nga analyzed that if 10 years ago, air conditioners could be considered luxury goods, but at present, these are common goods. Therefore, Ms. Nga proposed to remove special consumption tax on this item. If not abolished, we would like to explain more reasons for applying special consumption tax to this popular item, Ms. Nga emphasized.
Sharing the same view, Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung said that this is also an issue that the committee raised from the beginning. Mr. Tung explained that gasoline is an essential commodity, an input commodity of the economy, not a luxury commodity to be subject to special tax. In addition, gasoline is also subject to environmental protection tax.
Accepting comments on the draft Law, Deputy Minister of Finance Cao Anh Tuan said that gasoline has many fossil fuels, is not renewable, and needs to use energy economically, so most countries collect special consumption tax on gasoline. Some countries such as France, Germany, Italy, UK, South Korea, Singapore... have low special consumption tax rates on biofuel products.
In Vietnam, special consumption tax on gasoline has been collected since 1995, which is very stable. The law also includes E5 gasoline tax at 8%, E10 at 7%, lower than regular gasoline to encourage businesses and people to use environmentally friendly biofuel. "This item is stable, so it is recommended not to raise the issue of removing the subject of special consumption tax collection," said Mr. Tuan.
The draft revised Law on Special Consumption Tax consists of 4 chapters and 11 articles, expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 9th session, taking place in May.
