Each liter of gasoline can carry 4,000 VND in environmental protection tax.

The option of increasing environmental protection tax on gasoline to the ceiling may be considered by the Government as a solution to complete the 2016 budget collection task.

After tripling the environmental protection tax on gasoline in 2015, the proposal to further increase this tax was once again raised by the Government in a recent submission to the National Assembly.

Accordingly, to complete the 2016 budget collection task, the Government (the proposing unit is the Ministry of Finance) said that it will closely monitor fluctuations in world crude oil prices, analyze and assess impacts and develop plans and solutions to ensure budget balance. One of the specific measures proposed by this agency is "researching and submitting to competent authorities to continue adjusting and increasing environmental protection tax on petroleum products".

Each liter of gasoline may be subject to an additional VND1,000 environmental protection tax if the Government officially proposes it. Photo: Q.D

Thus, in case the 2016 budget revenue faces difficulties due to unfavorable oil prices and sharp declines in import tax revenues, this option will be proposed by the Government.

According to current regulations, the ceiling for environmental protection tax is 4,000 VND, as set by the National Assembly Standing Committee within the collection rate prescribed in the Law. Previously, this tax had increased from 1,000 to 3,000 VND from May 1, 2015 to partially offset the decrease in revenue due to the roadmap for reducing gasoline import tax according to international commitments. At that time, although the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade repeatedly affirmed that this would not increase gasoline prices, in fact, according to calculations, gasoline prices could still be cheaper if the environmental protection tax had not "tripled".

A month ago, in response to information that environmental protection tax could increase to a record high, representatives of the Tax Policy Department as well as Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung both confirmed to the press that the agency had not made the above proposal.

The triple increase in environmental protection tax in the last 8 months of the year has helped the 2015 budget revenue exceed the estimate in the context of falling oil prices. Reporting to the National Assembly last October, Minister Dinh Tien Dung also informed that thanks to the triple increase in environmental tax on gasoline, the whole year's budget had an additional 13,200 billion VND in the context of many other sources of revenue being difficult.

According to VNE