Vietnam mulls environmental tax hike on petroleum products, plastic bags
Spending on environmental protection has not kept pace with significant tax increases.
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The draft proposes a significant increase in the cost of gasoline and other refined products.
The ministry also wanted to hike the tax on plastic bags to VND40,000-80,000 per kilogram from the current VND30,000-50,000.
In May 2015, Vietnam tripled its environmental protection taxes to make up for revenue lost from the country's accession to the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), which required it to lower import duties on oil products.
Vietnam gained VND42.4 trillion of revenue from environmental protection tax in 2016, jumping nearly 57% from 2015.
During the same period, spending on environmental protection last year reached just VND12.3 trillion, accounting for 29% of the tax revenue.
Last year's spending represented a 7.9% year-on-year increase from 2015, Tuoi Tre Newspaper reported on January 15, quoting data from the Ministry of Finance.
