Need a reasonable roadmap for businesses to adapt

Increase in special consumption tax: Need a reasonable roadmap for businesses to adapt

Sharing at the workshop "Tax amendment to promote business activities" organized by Investment Newspaper on August 14, Mr. Phan Duc Hieu, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, made a number of recommendations.

Mr. Phan Duc Hieu, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee. (Photo: Chi Cuong)

Mr. Hieu said that increasing taxes is necessary, however, calculating taxes reasonably to harmonize the interests between the State and enterprises is still a difficult problem. At the workshop, this expert raised 5 issues to consider when amending special consumption tax, especially for beverages.

Firstly, the tax roadmap needs to be carefully considered. Mr. Hieu believes that we cannot stop at the two proposed options but need to add a different tax roadmap. This roadmap should have a gap of about 2-3 years before starting to apply the tax, in order to create conditions for businesses to have enough time to adapt. "In my personal opinion, I think it is reasonable to start taxing from 2027," Mr. Hieu said.

Second, it is necessary to clearly determine what the highest tax rate will be until 2030. If the tax rate is set too high, it may reduce the revenue of enterprises, thereby affecting the tax revenue of the State. Moreover, the determination of the highest tax rate must be based on convincing and scientific grounds.

Third, there should be a difference in the tax rates applied to different types of beverages, such as beer versus wine. For beer, especially beers with 0% alcohol content, special consumption tax should not be applied. This proposal is to create conditions for businesses to restructure production, towards products with less negative impacts on health. The special consumption tax rate for beer should be lower than that applied to wine.

Fourth, it is necessary to review the import tax rate on alcohol. If currently there is tax exemption for alcohol with alcohol concentration below 20 degrees, it should be reconsidered to ensure fairness between domestic and imported products.

"Currently, the import tax on alcohol under 20 degrees from Korea is zero. If this information is correct, then taxing is very important. I am wondering whether we should increase the tax on alcohol or not, and how much is appropriate. What are the advantages, what is the impact on consumer behavior, if we tax branded bottled alcohol, causing prices to increase, the demand for craft alcohol will be higher, causing the target to not be achieved, affecting producers, this will have the opposite effect," Mr. Hieu expressed his opinion and suggested having a separate tax increase roadmap for alcohol.

Fifth, simply increasing taxes is not enough, it must be accompanied by other management measures. For example, it is necessary to strengthen the handling of commercial fraud and strictly control the production of artisanal alcohol. This not only ensures food hygiene and safety but also ensures that these products are taxed like those produced in factories.

It can be seen that, in this context, any decision to increase taxes requires careful consideration of the social impact and policy of the management agency. Maintaining the existing policy for the next few years is one of the sustainable solutions, a correct policy, supported by public opinion, businesses, and economic experts because it helps the Government to nurture revenue sources in the current difficult period.

More than ever, this is the time when the alcohol, beer and beverage industry needs the support and cooperation of the State to maintain and stabilize production and ensure jobs for workers. Many enterprises producing Vietnamese branded products have spent many years to build a name for themselves in the domestic market and gradually reach out to the world market. In the current difficult context, there needs to be appropriate policies for businesses to adapt, otherwise, businesses may lose their position, even weaken and have to leave the market.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/tang-thue-tieu-thu-dac-biet-can-lo-trinh-hop-ly-de-doanh-nghiep-thich-ung-d222425.html