This morning (November 22), authorized by the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long presented the Proposal on the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).
According to the Proposal, for alcohol and beer products: The tax rate is regulated by percentage, increasing according to the roadmap each year in the period from 2026-2030 to achieve the goal of increasing the selling price of alcohol and beer by at least 10% according to the tax increase recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) as follows:
- For alcohol products from 20 degrees or more:
+ Option 1: Increase tax rate from current level of 65% to 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90% each year in the period from 2026-2030.
+ Option 2: Increase tax rate from current level of 65% to 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100% each year in the period from 2026-2030.
- For alcohol products under 20 degrees:
+ Option 1: Increase tax rates from the current level of 35% to 40%, 45%, 50%, 55%, 60% each year in the period from 2026-2030.
+ Option 2: Increase tax rates from the current level of 35% to 50%, 55%, 60%, 65%, 70% each year in the period from 2026-2030.
- For beer products:
+ Option 1: Increase tax rate from current level of 65% to 70%, 75%, 80%, 85%, 90% each year in the period from 2026-2030.
+ Option 2: Increase tax rate from current level of 65% to 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 100% each year in the period from 2026-2030.
Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long said that the Government is leaning towards option 2. Because, according to option 2, the selling price in 2026 will increase by about 10% compared to 2025 and in the following years, the selling price will increase by 2-3% each year compared to the previous year to ensure that product prices increase correspondingly to the inflation rate and income increase in the following years.
Option 2 will have a stronger effect on reducing the affordability of alcohol products, have a better impact on reducing the rate of alcohol use and reducing the related harms caused by alcohol abuse.
Regarding tobacco products as prescribed by the Law on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms, the draft proposes to maintain the tax rate of 75% and add an absolute tax rate with an annual increase in the period from 2026 to 2030 to contribute to the goal of reducing the rate of tobacco use among men aged 15 and over to below 36% in the period from 2026 to 2030 according to the National Strategy on Prevention and Control of Tobacco Harms and towards achieving the tax rate on retail price of tobacco as recommended by WHO (75%).
In addition, soft drinks according to Vietnamese standards with sugar content above 5g/100ml are added to the list of subjects subject to special consumption tax to implement the Party and State's guidelines on protecting people's health, recommendations of WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund and the Ministry of Health.
The draft adds the provision "passenger cars, four-wheeled passenger cars with engines that are not registered for circulation, do not participate in traffic and only run in historical sites, hospitals, and schools" and "other specialized cars according to Government regulations" to the list of subjects not subject to special consumption tax to ensure feasibility in implementation.
