National Assembly Delegate: "There is no reason to slow down the increase in tobacco taxes"

(Dan Tri) - Hanoi National Assembly Representative Nguyen Anh Tri supports the Ministry of Health's proposal to immediately, strongly and regularly increase the special consumption tax on cigarettes. There is no reason to slow down this.

Increase tobacco tax to reduce health burden on people

From the perspective of welfare economics , increasing tobacco taxes is considered one of the rare tax policies that brings about a dual effect: both increasing budget revenue and contributing to minimizing harm to public health.

Every year that this policy is delayed, Vietnam is estimated to lose about 100,000 premature deaths due to tobacco, resulting in a loss of more than 100,000 billion VND in medical costs and reduced labor productivity.

At the same time, the country also misses out on the opportunity to raise significant additional revenue, which could be used to finance social security goals or public investment, boosting economic growth.

At the recent seminar "Increasing tobacco tax - Double benefits for the budget and health" organized by Dan Tri newspaper, Professor Nguyen Anh Tri, National Assembly Delegate of Hanoi City, expressed strong support for the proposal of the Ministry of Health to immediately, strongly and regularly increase the special consumption tax on tobacco.

He emphasized that although Vietnam has increased taxes three times, the results have not met expectations, so this time is an opportunity to do better.

Professor Nguyen Anh Tri, National Assembly Delegate of Hanoi City (Photo: Hai Long).

According to Professor Tri, increasing tobacco taxes has two main purposes: adjusting the consumption behavior of smokers and increasing budget revenue. He cited the effectiveness of other countries, such as the Philippines, which collected 2.9 billion USD from tobacco taxes in 2022, or Thailand, which increased its revenue from 500 million USD to 2.3 billion USD.

“Thus, increasing taxes not only contributes to increasing national budget revenue, but most importantly, using this revenue to support medical examination and treatment costs related to the harmful effects of tobacco. That will help reduce the burden of medical examination and treatment costs for the people,” Professor Tri affirmed.

Aiming for dual benefits

Dr. Nguyen Huy Quang, Head of the Consulting, Criticism and Social Appraisal Board - Vietnam Medical Association, said that if the tobacco tax rate is raised to the highest level, specifically the relative tax of 75% and the absolute tax of 15,000 VND/pack by 2031 as proposed by the Ministry of Health, Vietnam will achieve its set goals, especially the dual benefits: the state budget will increase significantly and this revenue will be spent on people's health care activities.

“The next message I want to emphasize is that this is a conflict between economic interests and health. However, our Party and State have had a consistent stance of not trading health for economic interests,” Dr. Quang emphasized.

Experts attending the seminar (Photo: Hai Long).

Regarding concerns that increasing tobacco taxes could affect the jobs of tobacco growers and producers, Professor Tri admitted that this is a reality that needs to be considered.

However, he asserted that this was the purpose of the tax increase: to limit not only smokers but also the cultivation, production, consumption and trade of tobacco.

“There is no reason to slow down the increase in tobacco taxes. Why does a profession that produces toxic substances continue to haunt Vietnam? We need to be responsible for communicating and educating people so that they know not to do this job. Managers have the responsibility to find jobs for those who are doing this toxic profession,” Professor Tri emphasized.

Sharing the same view, Ms. Sarah Bales, an expert from the Vietnam Health Economics Association, affirmed: "We do not say that unemployment is caused by reduced consumption, but that workers are moving from the tobacco industry to other industries."

She pointed out that the risk of job losses is mainly related to the mechanization of tobacco production. For example, from 2010 to 2022, although the number of cigarette packs consumed did not decrease, 4,200 people lost their jobs in the manufacturing industry because companies replaced humans with machines.

Ms. Sarah Bales, expert of Vietnam Health Economics Association (Photo: Hai Long).

Therefore, the argument that increasing tobacco taxes will affect jobs is "somewhat absurd". Ms. Bales also noted that Vietnam's tobacco manufacturing industry depends on imported raw materials for 64%.

Therefore, the reduction in consumption will lead to a reduction in imports first, creating enough time to adjust the tobacco agricultural sector and focus on supporting affected provinces.

Conclusion No. 176 of General Secretary To Lam (April 25) emphasized the role of prevention and management of chronic diseases. Currently, non-communicable diseases still account for 70% of the total disease burden in Vietnam, of which tobacco is the leading risk factor.

The General Secretary also assigned the Government Party Committee to direct the research and development of a project with a roadmap to gradually reduce the burden of medical costs for people, moving towards free hospital fees for all people in the period from 2030-2035.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Vietnam has many options to finance this goal, including setting aside revenue from tobacco and alcohol taxes.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/dai-bieu-quoc-hoi-khong-co-ly-do-gi-cham-lai-viec-tang-thue-thuoc-la-20250610105331065.htm