HCMC to raise environmental protection fee against strong opposition
Environmental protection tax on many commodities next year

Car-wash services, hotels and restaurants will pay wasterwater fee higher in the coming time according to a draft proposed by the Ministry of Finance.— File Photo

The proposal was part of a draft on environmental protection fees that will replace Decree 154/2016/NĐ-CP.

The fee is planned to be equivalent to 15 per cent of the water price (VAT excluded), compared to 10 per cent as previous.

Decree 154’s Article 6 regulated the wastewater fee was VND1.5 million per year for production and processing workshops designed with wastewater capacity less than 20cu.m per day.

The implementation of the Decree 154 since 2016 showed that workshops with the same designed capacity for wastewater discharge had different production or processes, meaning the volume of discharged wastewater was also different.

For example, mechanical and garment facilities had a small amount of wastewater, less than 5 cu.m per day while they had to pay the same fee of VND1.5 million (US$65) a year.

According to the Decree 154, carwash services, restaurants and hotels owners paid the same wastewater fees as households.

The wastewater at production workshops had a higher level of environmental pollution compared with households.

So the Ministry of Finance has proposed local authorities decide the fee for motorbike-car wash services, hotels and restaurants depending on wastewater discharge volumes.

This draft is receiving the attention of public opinion, especially those directly affected: owners of restaurants, hotels and car-wash services.

Nguyen Dung, a restaurant owner at Cau Giay District, Hanoi said “We have options to deal with this price increase. Currently, the restaurant does not increase prices, however, with the current economic situation, we also have to increase according to the market.”

VNS