National Assembly Delegate Ha Sy Dong participated in the discussion on the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended)

Continuing the program of the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly, this afternoon, November 27, under the chairmanship of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax (amended).

National Assembly Delegate, Acting Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee Ha Sy Dong spoke at the National Assembly on the afternoon of November 27 - Photo: CN

Participating in the discussion, National Assembly delegate Ha Sy Dong, Acting Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, member of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, had some opinions on imposing special consumption tax (SCT) on the production of specialized automobiles, air conditioners and petroleum products.

Delegate Ha Sy Dong analyzed that the production of specialized vehicles such as ambulances, money transport vehicles, prisoner transport vehicles, and other specialized vehicles currently faces many difficulties regarding special consumption tax policies.

Specifically, to produce ambulances, businesses will have to use as input a 9-seat or 12-seat vehicle without interior. These “input material” vehicles are subject to special consumption tax, with a tax rate of up to 50%. When purchasing these “input materials”, manufacturers have to pay tax through the purchase price of the vehicle.

After converting this type of commercial vehicle into an ambulance and selling it, this product is not subject to special consumption tax. Enterprises are not allowed to deduct or refund the input special consumption tax. As a result, the cost of manufacturing ambulances in Vietnam has increased by 35 - 40%. With the price of an ambulance at about 1 billion VND each, the government is collecting special consumption tax of about 250 - 300 million VND for each ambulance.

According to the delegate, this will increase medical costs, reduce patients' access to services, and emphasize that only in the case of fully imported ambulances can the entire excise tax obligation be avoided. This will eliminate domestic production and cause great damage to the applied mechanical industry. Therefore, it is recommended that the National Assembly consider a mechanism to deduct or refund excise tax paid at the input to support the domestic specialized automobile manufacturing industry.

Regarding air conditioners, delegate Ha Sy Dong said that this item has been subject to special consumption tax since 1998 at a rate of 20% and was reduced to 10% in 2008. Previously, air conditioners could be considered a luxury item, but now this device has become an essential item, serving daily life.

Delegate analysis: Many studies have shown that maintaining a suitable room temperature is very effective in improving intellectual labor productivity. This is especially meaningful for Vietnam when we have a knowledge-based economic development orientation as it is today. Perhaps Vietnam is the only country in the world that imposes special consumption tax on air conditioners. Other countries control air conditioners in two other aspects, one is controlling the refrigerant, the other is the level of electricity consumption.

Vietnam has regulations on controlling refrigerants, aiming to reduce import quotas of refrigerants that have negative impacts on the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect. In addition, there are also regulations on energy efficiency for nuclear power plants and are increasingly aiming to increase the minimum energy efficiency.

Therefore, the delegate affirmed that continuing to maintain the special consumption tax on air conditioners is no longer appropriate and should be abolished to reduce costs for consumers and businesses.

Regarding petroleum products, delegate Ha Sy Dong emphasized that currently, this product has to “bear” two types of taxes that limit consumption: special consumption tax and environmental protection tax. This is an uncommon way of taxation in the world, because countries usually only apply one of these two types of taxes.

Petroleum is not a luxury item, and the main goal of the special consumption tax in this case is to protect the environment. Therefore, delegate Ha Sy Dong proposed to study the removal of special consumption tax on petroleum products, and at the same time adjust the environmental protection tax rate to better suit the goal of controlling consumption and protecting the environment.

Cam Nhung - Thanh Tuan

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-ha-sy-dong-tham-gia-thao-luan-ve-du-thao-luat-thue-tieu-thu-dac-biet-sua-doi-190025.htm