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Vehicle tax remains unchanged
Car dealers should maintain existing vehicle prices because the government has not yet imposed a new excise tax, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance has said.
Taxation Department Deputy Director General Mr Khamphay Vongsakhamphui said yesterday the government would not impose a planned new excise tax on vehicles until early next year.
The new tax will be applied in line with the amended Law on Tax
“Car dealers should not put their prices up citing the new excise tax because we have not yet put the new rates into effect,” Mr Khamphay told Vientiane Times amid wide speculation that vehicle prices would increase this month.
Rumours have been circulating that tax officials informed car dealers about increased tax rates at the start of the 2011/2012 fiscal year, which began on October 1, enabling dealers to raise prices.
The National Assembly approved the amended Law on Tax in June and the government had planned to enforce the law this month. But enforcement has been postponed until January because the presidential decree to promulgate the law and the prime ministerial decree to guide its implementation have not been completed.
Under the amended law, the government will increase the excise tax on vehicles but will lower it on motorbikes, to encourage people to buy bikes instead of cars and pick-up trucks, and ease traffic congestion in urban areas.
The new excise tax on pick-ups will be 30, 35 and 40 percent of the purchase price depending on engine size. The tax was previously 20 percent for a two-door vehicle and 25 percent for a four-door vehicle.
The tax on sedans is set at 70, 80, 85 or 90 percent depending on engine size, up from 60 or 75 percent previously. SUVs with an engine size of more than 3,001 cc will be taxed at 85 percent, up from 75 percent.
The new tax on motorbikes is 10 or 15 percent depending on engine size, down from 20 percent, while the excise tax imposed on minibuses and buses remains unchanged.
Mr Khamphay, who is a member of the new Tax Law drafting committee, warned that dealers who said they had to put up vehicle prices because of higher excise taxes were acting illegally. The sector concerned and the local authorities should penalise such dealers, he added.
Managers at Auto Lao Service and Lao Toyota Service, two major car dealers in Vientiane, said they had kept vehicle prices unchanged as they hadn't received any official information from the government about changes in the excise tax.
They also said that vehicle import tariffs remained unchanged so they had not adjusted vehicle prices.
vientiane times
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