Mentioning a solution to reduce gasoline prices, the Finance Minister said he would propose a tax reduction

Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong) asked, is there a tax reduction for gasoline or not when the price of this item has reached a record level?

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc replied that the reduction in petrol prices depends not only on tax but also on other factors such as supply-demand relationship and domestic production. Vietnam’s gasoline prices are now high, whether tax reduction or not is within the competence of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee. “With an environmental tax on gasoline of 4,000 VND/liter, we have proposed and approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee to reduce 2,000 VND/liter. This means a decrease of 24,000 billion VND in budget revenue. The remaining 2,000 VND, according to the legal basis, the National Assembly Standing Committee can only decide to reduce another 1,000 VND. And if you want to reduce this 2,000, the authority of the National Assembly“, said Minister Phuc.

In addition, there are other taxes such as excise tax (10%), import and export tax (8%), VAT (10%), and whether or not excise tax is reduced is also under the jurisdiction of the Government. Congress. However, the Ministry of Finance said that in the immediate future, it will assess the impact and report to the Government to submit to the National Assembly for consideration of tax reduction to reduce gasoline prices.

“However, we must implement synchronous policies. If we only reduce taxes to keep prices down but still allow smuggling to happen, our cash flow will inadvertently be lost abroad.“, Mr. Phuc recommended.

The Minister also said that gasoline prices not only depend on taxes but also on supply and demand relationships, the Finance Ministry will discuss with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to find out where to buy gasoline cheap.

The third solution mentioned by Minister Phuc is to boost domestic production. For example, our current demand is 21 million tons of petroleum per year, domestic production is 11 million tons, and the rest is about 10 million tons imported. We need to take measures to push up the domestic production of petroleum, thereby reducing the amount of imports to avoid being affected by fluctuations in the world.

However, Mr. Phuc emphasized, to what extent the reduction in gasoline prices is necessary to assess the impact.

Disagree with petrol price intervention

Reflecting on the reply of Minister Hoang Duc Phuc, delegate Nguyen Van Than (Thai Binh) said that too much intervention in petrol prices is not suitable for the operation of the economy. economy In the socialist market, it is necessary to let gasoline prices rise and fall naturally according to the rise and fall of the world. “We have many businesses, both domestic and foreign invested. If we intervene to reduce the price of gasoline, it will affect others. So I think the intervention is also appropriate, not trying to reduce the minimum, the cheapest compared to surrounding countries.”, said Mr. Than.

In exchange with the above opinion, Minister Phuc emphasized that petroleum is a commodity stabilized by the state. So at some point the state must intervene to reduce gasoline prices, control production costs, promote growth and competitiveness. From there, there will be accumulation for the economy, we can collect taxes through the added value of the economy, VAT and corporate income in other items.

Responding to VTC News, a representative of the Domestic Market Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that in the current gasoline price structure of Vietnam, taxes and fees account for about 30-32% (equivalent to 10,000 – 11,000 VND/liter). “Thus, if there is no tax, the price of gasoline in Vietnam will be about 20,000 VND / liter (equivalent to 0.86 USD / liter).“, a source from the Department of Domestic Market said.

Regarding the story of gasoline prices, information at the Government’s regular May press conference held on the afternoon of June 4, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said, although the price of gasoline increased continuously and is at a high level. but Vietnam’s gasoline prices are still lower than those of bordering countries such as Laos, Cambodia and China.

In addition, from the beginning of the year to June 1 (the latest operating period), while the average price of some petroleum products in the world on the Singapore market increased by 45.86%-63.68%, the domestic price only increased 27.29% – 47.89%. “Thus, although operating according to the increasing momentum of the world, the increase in gasoline prices in Vietnam is still lower“, said Mr. Hai.

Meanwhile, in the face of high gasoline prices, the Ministry of Finance proposed to reduce preferential import and export tax on unleaded motor gasoline from 20 to 12% to diversify supply. A representative of the Ministry of Finance also said that our proportion of petrol and oil tax is relatively low compared to the world.