Vietnam raises mineral exploitation taxes

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-20 13:39

HANOI -- Vietnam's Finance Ministry has decided to raise natural resource taxes on tapping minerals to curb rampant exploitation and fatten local budgets, according to Vietnamese newspaper Labor on Wednesday.

Taxes on metal minerals are to rise to 10-30 percent from 1-5 percent, and those on most of non-metal minerals to 5-10 percent from 1-5 percent. Taxes on gemstones, coal and natural gases will surge up to 20 percent, 20 percent, and 25 percent, respectively.

The new tax rates on gemstones are to climb to 5-20 percent from 3-8 percent, on coal to 5-20 percent from 1-3 percent, and natural gases to 6-25 percent from 0-10 percent.

Vietnam earned roughly $60.8 million from exporting precious stones and metals in the first four months of this year, posting a year-on-year rise of four percent, said the Trade Information Center under the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Vietnam exported nearly 14.5 million tons of coal worth $811 million in the first seven months of this year, down 22.7 percent in volume but up 38.4 percent in value against the same period last year, according to the country's General Statistics Office.