Hanoi (VNA) –The Ministry of Finance has proposed a rise of environmental protection tax on petrolto the ceiling level of 4,000 VND (17 US cent) per litre from the current 3,000VND (13 US cent) per litre.

In a draft resolutionon environmental protection tax list it has sent to the National AssemblyStanding Committee, the ministry also suggested an increase of tax for oilproducts to another ceiling level of 2,000 VND (8 US cent) per litre.

With the raise, Statebudget collection from petrol and oil taxes will reach about over 55 trillionVND (2.42 billion USD), about 14.3 trillion VND higher than the current amount.

Apart from petrol, environmenttaxes for other products such as fossil coal, hydrocloflocacbon (HCFC), andplastic bags will also rise from 1,000 VND-10,000 VND.

Specifically, tax on fossilcoal will be up by 5,000 VND-10,000 VND per tonne, resulting in tax revenue ofabout 2.38 trillion VND each year, an increase of 795 billion VND each year.

Meanwhile, tax onplastic bags will also rise by 10,000 VND each kilo, which means from 40,000VND per kilo at present to 50,000 VND per kilo. Estimated tax revenue from theproduct will be about 67.5 billion VND.

According to theministry, if the proposal is approved, total revenues from environmentalprotection taxes will be about 57.61 trillion VND per year, up about 15.18trillion VND per year.

The ministry explainedthat the environmental tax for oil and petrol products have been applied since2012, helping raise public responsibility and awareness of preserving theenvironment, while encouraging the production and use of green products asVietnam is gradually cutting import taxes following its internationalcommitments.

From 2012-2017, totalcollection from environmental protection taxes were about 150 trillion VND, or25 trillion VND each year.

However, the ministryrecognised the need to adjust the taxes to a more suitable level, as the retailprices of petrol in Vietnam is lower than that in neighbouring countries andsome countries in the ASEAN and Asia.

Currently, Vietnam’spetrol retail price at 19,980 VND (0.87 USD) per litre is lower than that in 120other countries.

At the same time, theministry underlined that research showed that the use of goods  that are subject to environmental protectiontax harms the environment. Scientists’ calculation clarified that the tax mustbe much higher in order to fix the harms done by those goods.

A survey of theministry on the proposed environmental tax raise on the online portals of theGovernment and the ministry has received 77 opinions of other sectors andministries, localities, business associations and organisations, of which 47opinions agreed on the necessity of the tax increase.-VNA