A draft Special Consumption Tax law, proposed by the Ministry of Health, plans to increase the tax applied to cigarettes from 75 per cent to 80 per cent of pack price by 2020, Vietnam Net reported.

The changes proposed by the Ministry would see a tax of VND 1,000 (EUR 0.035) applied to cigarette packs from 2020, an increase from 75 per cent to 80 per cent. A further increase from 80 per cent to 85 per cent of pack price would be applied from 2021, the news site reported.
The policy aims to increase government tax revenues from tobacco by an additional VND 6,300 billion (EUR 224.8 million) per year, decrease male smoker prevalence by 3 per cent and cut the country's 300,000 annual instances of early death caused by smoking.
Around 45.3 per cent of men aged 15 years and older smoke tobacco in Vietnam, Vietnam Net reported.