Gov’t to raise tax on tobacco products

The Government is planning to increase the special consumption tax imposed on tobacco products to raise income for the state budget and reduce the number of smokers.

Deputy director of the Taxation Policy Department under the Ministry of Finance, Nguyen Van Tuan, said: “The Government has asked the National Congress to raise the tax imposed on tobacco products from 65 per cent to 70 per cent by the end of 2018 and to 75 per cent in 2019”.

However, the Government should improve its efforts to prevent people from using smuggled products because it hit the State budget, Tuan said. He predicted the draft law would help the Government claim VND154 trillion ($7.3 billion) in taxes for the State budget from 2015 to 2020.