Vietnam’s Special Consumption Tax or SCT, an excise tax on luxury goods, is currently being reviewed before Vietnam’s National Assembly. This has seen broad media coverage in recent days, with opinions and ideas varying between delegates and news outlets.
Local news outlet Lao Dong, for example, has reviewed the suggestion that votive papers and plastic bags be added to the tax. It asserts that this is ‘reasonable’ citing the environmental benefits. It also applauded a decision that considering air-conditioning a luxury is ‘outdated’.
The SCT on gasoline has also had a run. Thanh Nien is carrying comments from Dau Anh Tuan, the Deputy General Secretary, Head of the Legal Department of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who has argued that gas is being double taxed, attracting both an Environmental Protection Tax and the SCT. The article also has inputs from several academics and business leaders that suggest the SCT on gasoline should be removed to promote economic growth.
There have also been further comments made with respect to increasing the SCT on beer and also adding sugar to the items taxed. Little new information or analysis, however, has been provided with these two issues covered at length for years now.
See also: Is a Sugar Tax Right for Vietnam?