Vietnam fuel tax set to rise to highest level

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will persist with a controversial plan to increase environmental tax on fuel to the highest level permitted, a source said.

A Finance Ministry official who did not want to be named said the plan will be discussed at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, Vietnam’s parliament, which is scheduled on July 11-13.

Should it pass, the new tax will take effect starting this October, three months later than the original schedule.

The reason for the delay, the official said, was that the Finance Ministry did not want to impose the tax in September, as a majority of students would be starting a new school year then.

The ensuing surge in transportation could affect the consumer price index, the source explained.

Under the proposal, the environmental tax on petrol and diesel will increase by 33 percent, or VND4,000 (17 cents) per liter and VND2,000 per liter respectively.