Proposal to subject sugary soft drinks to special consumption tax

On the afternoon of September 26, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law on Special Consumption Tax.

According to the Government's report, the current trend in many countries around the world is to expand the base for calculating special consumption tax, in order to limit the consumption of certain types of goods that are harmful to public health, children, and the environment.

Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said that this draft law adds soft drinks (according to Vietnamese Standards) with sugar content over 5g/100ml to the list of subjects subject to special consumption tax.

Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi (Photo: Hong Phong).

This aims to promptly prevent and reduce the alarming situation of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents; and to prevent and reduce the risk of disease and the medical burden of non-communicable diseases.

According to the Deputy Minister of Finance, this regulation aims to raise awareness and limit the consumption of sugary soft drinks, bringing benefits to public health, especially for young people, the future generation of the country, in accordance with international practice.

After preliminary examination, the majority of opinions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee agreed to add sugary soft drinks to the list of subjects subject to special consumption tax.

However, Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh emphasized that the inspection agency requested the Government to clarify the content "according to Vietnamese Standards", because this regulation could lead to difficulties in implementation for imported products that are not produced according to Vietnamese standards but still have a sugar content of over 5g/100ml.

In addition, according to Mr. Manh, some opinions suggested explaining more clearly the ability to achieve the goal of this policy in contributing to protecting people's health, providing scientific evidence on the relationship between the consumption of sugary soft drinks and overweight, obesity and non-communicable diseases.

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh (Photo: Hong Phong).

According to these opinions, the proposal to add sugary soft drinks to the taxable list does not fully cover products that can affect consumers' health, because sugary soft drinks are not the only products with sugar content, so if only this product is taxed, consumers can still consume sugar with higher content from other products (such as cakes, candies, etc.).

According to the inspection agency, there are suggestions to add an assessment of how the consumption of this product affects the subjects, because workers and the poor often use more of this beverage than high-income and middle-income groups.

Some opinions suggest considering adding sugary soft drinks to the list of subjects subject to special consumption tax, because Vietnam's consumption of sugary soft drinks is not high compared to many countries in the region and the world.

Statistics show that around 45 countries in the world impose excise tax on sugary soft drinks.

The audit agency believes that adding sugary drinks to the list of those subject to special consumption tax will not only have an adverse impact on the production and business activities of beverage manufacturing enterprises, but may also affect related supporting industries such as the sugar industry.

In addition, this regulation may increase the use of informally produced beverage items or artisanal products.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/de-xuat-nuoc-giai-khat-co-duong-phai-chiu-thue-tieu-thu-dac-biet-20240926152924478.htm