Faced with the reality of skyrocketing real estate prices, many opinions suggest that it is necessary to control real estate prices through tax policies; tax should be imposed on those who own many properties to limit the paradox that while many people do not have a house to live in, many people have too many empty houses.

In a new report sent to the Government Office , the Ministry of Construction proposed a tax policy for cases of owning and using many houses and lands to limit speculation and buying and selling in a short period of time to make a profit.

“This is a very receptive and researchable proposal. The Ministry of Finance fully agrees. The Ministry of Finance will study financial policies on land and the real estate market to contribute to a transparent, stable and developing real estate market,” Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said at the regular press conference of the third quarter of 2024 of the Ministry of Finance on September 27.

However, Mr. Chi also noted that we need to think holistically and comprehensively to build a transparent and sustainable real estate market.

“If tax policy alone cannot meet the requirements, other policies such as land policy, planning, etc. must be synchronized. If policies are not comprehensive, achieving one goal will affect another, and then the final goal will not be achieved,” added Deputy Minister Nguyen Duc Chi.

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Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi at the press conference. Photo: Minh Quyet

Previously, many experts also made this recommendation. Dr. Phan Duc Hieu, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, said that the State must have a tax policy on people who own many houses, speculate on land, delay land use, and abandon land. If this tax policy is not issued soon, it will be impossible to comprehensively handle the land issue in general and the real estate market in particular.

Consider 2 options to reduce land rent in 2024

At today's press conference, Mr. Nguyen Tan Thinh, Director of the Department of Public Asset Management, said that the Ministry of Finance has just submitted a document to the Government asking for opinions on the draft on reducing real estate tax in 2024, which proposes two options for reducing land rent: 15% and 30%.

Initially, the Ministry of Finance proposed a 15% reduction, equivalent to the reduction in 2020, when the Covid pandemic was raging.

However, recently, many localities were greatly affected by storm No. 3, the Ministry of Finance proposed to double the reduction compared to the original plan, from 15% to 30%, corresponding to the reduction in 2021, 2022, 2023.

"We will gather opinions from ministries, branches and localities to report to the Government to choose a suitable option for the current context," said Mr. Thinh.

Consider the VAT-free threshold

According to Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh, Deputy General Director of the General Department of Taxation, the Government is submitting to the National Assembly an amendment to the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT), which is expected to be approved in October.

The Government is submitting to the National Assembly the authority to issue appropriate levels when determining the non-taxable threshold based on the actual situation.

Currently, if a household has a revenue of less than 100 million VND/year, it is not subject to VAT.

However, the assessment report of the Finance and Budget Committee proposes two options to raise the threshold for not being subject to VAT to below VND 200 million/year or below VND 300 million/year.

“The responsibility of the tax authority is to make a specific impact assessment, ensuring the principle of fairness between VAT and personal income tax, between business entities and salaried employees,” said Mr. Minh.