Proposal to apply preferential tax rate of 10% to all types of press

Continuing the working program at the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly , on the morning of May 12, the National Assembly listened to the Report on explanation, acceptance and revision of the draft Law on Corporate Income Tax (amended) and discussed a number of contents with different opinions of the draft Law.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai stated that, according to the provisions of the current Law, the income of press agencies from print press activities, including advertising on print press as prescribed by the Press Law, is subject to a tax rate of 10% throughout the entire period of operation; for other press activities, the general tax rate is 20%.

However, in the context that press agencies are having to reorganize and rearrange according to the Party and State's policies and are public service units that are not yet fully autonomous, the press's revenue mainly depends on advertising, but with the development of technology, especially social media, the press's revenue from advertising tends to decrease. Therefore, in order to demonstrate the Party and State's support for the activities of press agencies, on the basis of agreeing with the proposal of the Drafting Agency, the National Assembly Standing Committee has accepted and revised the draft Law in the direction of applying a uniform preferential tax rate of 10% to all types of press, similar to the preferential policy currently applied to printed newspapers.

Delegate Thach Phuoc Binh speaks at the meeting. (Photo: quochoi.vn)

Delegate Thach Phuoc Binh ( Tra Vinh Delegation) highly appreciated the drafting agency for accepting and revising the draft Law in the direction of uniformly applying the preferential tax rate of 10% to all types of press.

“Financial resources in tax incentives will be reinvested by press agencies in technology infrastructure, content management, content digitization, and personnel training, thereby improving the competitiveness of our country's press. The tax incentive regulations also show serious acceptance of the opinions of National Assembly deputies, the Vietnam Journalists Association, and press agencies,” said delegate Thach Phuoc Binh.

However, he said that in order to optimize the above regulations, competent authorities need to conduct a comprehensive review so that incentives are only applied to press agencies licensed to operate under the Press Law, avoiding exploitation by disguised media organizations; clearly determine whether advertising content on electronic newspapers is eligible for this incentive. Tax incentives also need to be accompanied by control criteria regarding official information content, quality of press products, etc.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) said that it is possible to apply a common tax rate for printed and electronic newspapers of 10%, or even reduce it further. The delegate also proposed a plan to consider exempting the press from corporate income tax for 5 years, or imposing a minimum tax rate to help this sector overcome difficulties.

According to delegate Tran Hoang Ngan, the press has made great contributions to the process of building and developing the country's economy and society. On the information and ideology front, the press has contributed to the fight against bad and toxic information, preventing and combating corruption and waste... He also pointed out the fact that in recent times, with fierce competition from social networks, the revenue of press agencies has decreased sharply. Meanwhile, the requirements for digital transformation and investment in technology at press agencies require large resources.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/de-xuat-ap-dung-thue-suat-uu-dai-10-voi-tat-ca-loai-hinh-bao-chi-213419.html