National Assembly considers draft resolution to reduce VAT by 2% to support economic recovery

Necessary policies in the context of economic difficulties

The Government 's proposal stated that reducing the VAT rate by 2% is one of the important solutions to support businesses, promote consumption and contribute to achieving the economic growth target of 8% in 2025. This policy is considered suitable for the current context when the economy is in the process of recovery, but there are still many difficulties such as high production costs, domestic purchasing power has improved but is not strong.

According to the assessment from 2022 to early 2025, the reduction of VAT has contributed positively to supporting production and business. The current VAT rate is 10%; the 2% reduction for some specific groups of goods and services has helped businesses reduce costs and access the market more easily.

The Minister of Finance, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the draft Resolution.

The Minister of Finance , authorized by the Prime Minister, presented the draft Resolution.

The Government affirmed that the continued implementation of the tax reduction policy is consistent with the Party's policies and the National Assembly's orientation, while also being linked to the socio-economic development plans for the 2021-2025 period and the economic restructuring strategy until 2025.

The draft resolution proposes to reduce the VAT rate by 2% from 10% to 8% for some groups of goods and services. The policy does not apply to groups of goods and services that are subject to a tax rate of 0%, 5% or are not subject to tax. At the same time, items such as mineral resources, metal products, goods subject to special consumption tax, telecommunications services, finance - banking - securities, real estate, etc. are also outside the scope of tax reduction.

The proposed implementation period is from July 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026. The Ministry of Finance is assigned to guide the implementation, ensuring publicity, transparency and efficiency.

According to the Government's calculations, this policy is expected to reduce budget revenue by about VND131 trillion in 18 months of implementation. Specifically, it will decrease by about VND39.54 trillion in the last 6 months of 2025 and by about VND42.2 trillion in 2026.

However, the positive impact on the macro economy is expected to be greater: reducing product costs, creating more jobs, increasing people's income, improving domestic purchasing power and increasing business competitiveness. Thereby, contributing to stabilizing the macro economy and supporting growth recovery.

Concerns about efficiency and sustainability

At the discussion session, the majority of National Assembly deputies and members of the Economic Committee agreed with the need to continue implementing the VAT reduction policy. The issuance of a separate resolution is considered appropriate given the importance and wide scope of the policy.

However, there are also opinions that the continuous extension of the policy may affect the stability of tax policy, reducing the room for fiscal management in the future. Some delegates suggested that the impact on state budget revenue should be carefully assessed, ensuring that it does not affect the goals of financial security and public debt.

In addition, there are opinions suggesting that the Government clarify the criteria for excluding groups of goods and services that are not eligible for tax reduction, and consider expanding the scope of application in some cases to ensure fairness, suitability with the context of economic recovery and the impact of the global trade situation.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Phan Van Mai presented the inspection report.

Regarding the implementation period, most opinions agree with the proposal to extend it until the end of 2026. However, there are also opinions that it should only be extended until the end of 2025, then based on the actual situation, continue to consider adjustments.

Concluding the review, the Economic Committee basically agreed with the Government's proposal to continue reducing the VAT rate by 2%, and at the same time requested the Government to absorb the opinions of National Assembly deputies to complete the draft Resolution.

The Committee emphasized that it is necessary to carefully assess the ability to balance the budget when implementing the resolution, synthesize the impact of other revenue reduction policies and budget expenditure tasks arising from now until the end of the year. These contents need to be clearly stated in the report assessing the financial and budget situation in 2025, as a basis for building the budget estimate for 2026.

The Government needs to take responsibility for managing and ensuring budget balance within the deficit limit decided by the National Assembly.

The Economic and Financial Committee respectfully requests the National Assembly to discuss and comment on the key contents of the draft Resolution: the necessity of promulgation, the form of the document, the scope of regulation, the duration of application and other relevant contents. It is expected that the National Assembly will consider and decide to pass the Resolution at this session.

According to VOV

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/quoc-hoi-xem-xet-du-thao-nghi-quyet-giam-2-thue-gtgt-de-ho-tro-phuc-hoi-kinh-te-post401726.html