Many tax policies are decades out of date.

On the morning of November 2, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the mid-term assessment of the implementation of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period; the national financial plan and borrowing and repayment of public debt for the 5-year period of 2021-2025...

Delegate Tran Van Lam (Bac Giang delegation) said that in the context of the complicated epidemic, the economy sometimes stagnated, the results achieved in recent years were a great effort. However, reality shows that many tax policies show backwardness and inadequacies but are slow to be reviewed and adjusted.

Delegate Tran Van Lam - National Assembly Delegation of Bac Giang province. (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

Typically, the current personal income tax, with regulations on starting point of taxable income, progressive division, family deduction levels that are not updated according to fluctuations in minimum wage, inflation... has content that is decades out of date.

Value added tax (VAT) is considered an advanced and modern tax but it also has many problems.

Although the revenue is large, the refund is also large. In 2022, revenue is 390 trillion VND, refund is 150 trillion VND (38%); in 2023, estimated revenue is 365 trillion VND, refund is 160 trillion VND (44%); in 2024, estimated revenue is 390 trillion VND, refund is 171 trillion VND (43%).

“It is worth mentioning that the process is complicated, costly, and takes place in many intermediate stages: collection and deduction, collection and refund, collection costs, refund costs, but in the end, the budget does not get much. This process also increases the risk of violations, fraud, and budget loss. This is an issue that needs to be considered and fundamentally resolved,” emphasized delegate Lam.

Regarding the leading role of the central budget, the delegate said that in recent times, this role has continuously decreased, reflected in the rate of revenue that the central budget enjoys, which has continuously declined, and there has been no solution to overcome it. Currently, many expenditures under the responsibility of the central budget must rely on contributions from local budgets.

Regarding the budget deficit, delegate Tran Van Lam suggested that the Government pay attention to the issue of investment capital that cannot be disbursed, so it cannot be borrowed, especially ODA capital, to reduce the budget deficit, thereby resolutely managing and implementing economic and financial plans to ensure efficiency in the coming time.

Regarding the use of macro-fiscal tools, the delegate said that many measures are still temporary and reactive, not fundamental and sustainable. "When the epidemic situation is over, it is necessary to change accordingly," the delegate suggested.

Agreeing with delegate Tran Van Lam, delegate Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (Quang Ninh) said that it is necessary to clear up the bottlenecks and backlogs in value-added tax refunds.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, National Assembly Delegation of Quang Ninh province. (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

From the petition of voters in Quang Ninh province, Ms. Ha said that recently, the problem of congestion and backlog of value-added tax refunds has emerged, causing businesses and some industry associations to send petitions. The Finance and Budget Committee has been assigned to conduct thematic supervision on this issue.

The monitoring report clearly stated that the systematic bottlenecks in tax refunds for some export industries stemmed from the General Department of Taxation's professional guidance documents, which had inappropriate points, lacked a solid legal basis, lacked feasibility, and lacked close coordination with relevant agencies.

For example, with the group of wood products, the General Department of Taxation instructs tax departments to conduct verification through the purchasing stage to the collection stage, which is unnecessary, because according to the provisions of the Law on Value Added Tax, value added tax only arises and must be paid from the processing stage with value added invoices.

Requiring verification at many stages is unnecessary, unfounded, and causes difficulties for production and business activities.

"To resolve this situation completely and effectively, I propose that the Government continue to pay attention, urgently direct, review, reform, and streamline administrative procedures.

The Ministry of Finance needs to direct, review, and remove obstacles from specialized documents, promptly resolve difficulties for businesses, and implement pre-refund and post-inspection with reputable and quality exporting businesses, accepting the legality of customs declarations.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to coordinate to confirm whether or not it is necessary to determine the origin of the product, and what the procedural documents and instructions are to ensure consistency and unity," delegate Ha suggested.

PHAM DUY

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