VINACHEM

Vietnam’s retail petrol price is lower than neighboring countries and many ASEAN nations, said head of Tax Policy Department Pham Dinh Thi yesterday referring to a proposal to increase environmental protection tax rate.

He was speaking at a quarterly conference by the Ministry of Finance.

Quoting data from website Global Petrol Prices on April 3, he said that Vietnam’s retail petrol price was in low group, ranked 44th out of 180 nations from low to high rank.

According to him, the price in 136 countries is higher than in Vietnam. Of these the Philippines was ranked 55th, Cambodia 58th, Thailand 88th and Laos 97th.

The ratio of taxes to basic price in Vietnam is lower than many countries, accounting for 37.24 percent on gasoline, 21.14 percent on diesel, 11.5 percent on kerosene and 18.4 percent on mazut. The taxes comprise import tariff, special consumption tax, environmental protection and value added tax.

Fuel tax in South Korea is imposed at 70.3 percent, Cambodia 40 percent and Laos 56 percent.

At the meeting, Mr. Thi talked about the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to increase environmental protection tax frame from VND1,000-4,000 to VND3,000-8,000 a liter of gasoline.

The proposal aimed at coping with complicated changes in the world’s petrol prices, ensure national benefits when Vietnam cuts import tariff to implement international commitments, prevent a big difference in petrol price between Vietnam and adjacent countries, improve responsibility to protect environment and encourage production and use of environmentally friendly goods, said him.

In the draft revised law on environmental protection, the Ministry of Finance just proposes to adjust tax frame on gasoline, basing on estimation of specific impacts to businesses’ production and trading, retail prices, citizens’ lives and socioeconomic situation in the current phase.

The Government will submit the draft law to the standing committee of the National Assembly to decide specific environmental tax rate on gasoline, he revealed.

The State Budget Law stipulates that environmental protection tax is a budget revenue source spent on development investment and capital assistance for businesses, says Mr. Thi.

At present, the state budget expenditure on environmental protection is maintained at 1 percent of total revenue. Authorized agencies are striving to increase the rate to 2 percent. - SGGP