“Such a plan wouldn’t be detailed and transparent enough,” Hien said on the second day of the two-day meeting.

Hien said different products in the same category should be broken down and subjected to different taxes.

The finance ministry’s plan seeks to raise taxes on several items to discourage exports and make it easier to adjust export taxes to take advantage of changing world prices.

The Standing Committee said it approved of the idea of new tax ranges but said the finance ministry and the Economy and Budget Committee would have to work out the specific changes before the plan could be approved.

Under the proposed plan, the tax range on rice and corn would be increased from 0-3 percent to 0-50 percent; coal from 1-20 percent to 5-45 percent and crude oil from 0-20 percent to 5-50 percent.

Most members of the economy and budget committee considered the tax increase on rice and corn too drastic, fearing it would affect exporters and especially farmers.

Many suggested raising the tax ceiling to only 15 percent, while some said the current tax range on rice and corn shouldn’t be changed.

On the other hand, the committee suggested increasing the tax floor on crude oil and coal to 10 percent, rather than just 5 percent as suggested by the ministry.

Hien said the export of crude oil and coal should be discouraged as these are natural resource products that can’t be reproduced. He suggested the ministry impose export quotas on these items alongside a tax increase.

Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh said under the plan, similar products were grouped into one category and subjected to the same tax range to simplify the coding of export items and prevent fraud.

As for increasing tax ceilings and maintaining low tax floors, Ninh said a wider tax range would be better able to adapt to wildly fluctuating world prices.

He said that when international steel prices plummeted recently, local steel businesses still found it unprofitable to export even with a 0 percent tax.

“So, if we increase the tax floor [on crude oil] to 10 percent, I fear we won’t be able to act when things change,” Ninh said.

A final plan must be resubmitted for approval by Tuesday. The plan would take effect on January 1 next year at the latest.

Reported by Xuan Toan