VAFIE to hold excise tax workshop this Friday

Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE) will hold a workshop this Friday to gather expert input on a draft amended Law on Special Consumption Tax (SCT).

The event comes in the context that the Ministry of Finance has insisted on its proposal to impose a 10% excise tax on sugary drinks, while some lawmakers recommended a delay during a parliamentary meeting last November.

The workshop will bring together lawmakers, policymakers, and representatives from associations of both local and foreign businesses.

Key topics for discussion will include the criteria for imposing an excise tax on sugary soft drinks, the tax’s impact on businesses and state budget revenue, proposed tax rates, the implementation roadmap, and other related issues.

According to the Central Institute for Economic Management's (CIEM) research, an excise tax could deal a blow to 9,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises and one million household businesses involved in the sugary drink industry. It would impact around 25 other sectors involved in the manufacturing and supply chain of soft drinks.

Nguyen Minh Thao, head of CIEM’s business environment and competitiveness research department, warned that a 10% excise tax on sugary drinks could erase 0.5 percentage points from Vietnam’s GDP.

VAFIE is the parent entity of The Investor (www.theinvestor.vn).