The government will levy an environment tax on five groups of products namely, petroleum, coal, hydro chlorofluorocarbon liquid (HCFC), plastic bags and chemical pesticides, effective from January 1, 2012, with each product being subject to a separate tax rate.
As petroleum products like gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil, kerosene and mazut oil are currently subject to fuel surcharge, when the environment tax takes effect, fuel surcharge will be removed, and the environment tax will be levied at the same level as the current fuel surcharge.
A minimum tax of about VND6,000-30,000 per ton will be imposed on coal retailing, while plastic bags will have to bear a tax of around VND20,000-30,000 per kilogram.
As price of various chemical pesticides such as those used on farm crops, anti-termite spray, forest produce preservatives, and warehouse disinfectants will vary, the average environment tax rate applied to each product will range from VND500-5,000 per kilogram.
