Deputy Minister of Finance: higher VAT does not heavily affect the poor
By Han Tin
August 31, 2017 | 06:58 AM GMT+7
Higher VAT is expected not to affect poor and low-income people, the Deputy Minister of Finance confirmed.
Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai. Photo: TL
At the regular Government press conference on the afternoon of August 30th, Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai informed about some changes in tax laws that the public have recently been paying attention to, including value added tax (VAT).
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In order to clarify the question about the increase level of VAT that poses negative impact on poor and low-income people, Ms. Vu Thi Mai said:
"These essential items are mainly subjected to nontaxable and lowtaxable ones. In particular, health belongs to the former and food is among the latter."
"Other agricultural commodities are subject to a low tax rate of 5%, recently proposed to increase to 6%. Therefore, it is expected that the increase in VAT will not affect the poor and low income people," Deputy Minister of Finance added.
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