Special Consumption Tax is an indirect tax, levied on certain types of goods and services to regulate production, import, and limit social consumption.

Historically, Special Consumption Tax appeared very early from ancient Greece and Rome but this is considered an uncertain story.

The most obvious is:

1792 in the United States, the first tax enacted was the Special Consumption Tax on Whiskey Wine.

1824 in Australia, the New South Wales Government imposed two taxes: Import Tax and Special Consumption Tax.

What about in Vietnam?

The predecessor of Vietnam's Special Consumption Tax was the "Goods Tax" issued in 1951, guided by the French.

After the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975, Goods Tax did not apply.

Vietnam's Special Consumption Tax was officially enacted in 1990. Since 1990, there have been 9 changes as follows:

The first period: The first law was the Special Consumption Tax Law 1990 which levied on six domestically produced goods, including: cigarettes, liquors, beers, coffees, playing cards and votive gilt papers.

The second period: The Special Consumption Tax Law 1993, this law narrowed the Special Consumption Tax taxable items to four types of taxable goods: cigarettes, liquors, beers and firecrackers.

The third period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 1995 marked a development step in the process of completing the Law on Special Consumption Tax, levied on domestically produced goods and also on imported goods for the list of goods subject to Special Consumption Tax.

The fourth period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 1998 removed firecrackers but added to the list of taxable products for air conditioners with a capacity of 90,000 BTU or less, re-added playing cards, votive gilt papers and added votive objects.

At the same time, put non-essential services on the list of subject to Special Consumption Tax, such as dance halls, massage parlors, karaoke bars, casinos, betting on horse racing, car racing, and golf.

The fifth period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 2003 added lottery business services and betting businesses to the list of subject to Special Consumption Tax.

The sixth period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 2005, the Law amended taxable prices and tax rates for certain items subject to Special Consumption Tax.

The seventh period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 2008, the Law further expands the list of goods, and services subject to Special Consumption Tax, in detail: cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco preparations, used for smoking, inhalation, chewing, smelling, sucking; Two- and three-wheeled motorcycles of a cylinder capacity of over 125 cm3; aircraft; yachts.

The eighth period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 2014, the Law added taxable objects are preparations and solvents that produce gasoline.

The ninth period: The Law on Special Consumption Tax 2016, the Law mainly amended the taxable prices and tax rates for certain items subject to Special Consumption Tax.

Such as:

The Special Consumption Tax tax rate for passenger motor vehicles of between 10 seats and under 16 seats reduced from 30% to 15%.

The Special Consumption Tax tax rate for passenger motor vehicles of between 16 seats and under 24 seats reduced from 15% to 10%.

Therefore, the history of Special Consumption Tax has gone through periods and amended, supplemented to contribute to the improvement of Vietnam's tax system.