On the afternoon of November 19, continuing the program of the 10th Session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended) and the draft Law on Tax Administration (amended).
Giving his opinion on the discussion, delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran (HCMC delegation) said that amending these two bills is very necessary. When the tax law is adjusted, we have the opportunity to design a more modern, transparent and fair tax collection system.
In addition, according to this delegate, it is also necessary to consider the actual endurance of the people - especially in the current context that many small traders, gardeners, and small traders are facing many difficulties due to natural disasters, epidemics, and constantly increasing living costs.
Delegate Tran cited the fact that Vietnam has continuously faced storms, floods, and inundation. Typically, Typhoon Yagi has affected more than 200,000 hectares of rice, more than 50,000 hectares of vegetables, more than 60,000 hectares of fruit trees; many aquaculture households have lost billions of dong...
These figures clearly show that agricultural and small traders are very vulnerable and have a hard time recovering immediately after natural disasters.
From this reality, delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran said that when drafting the two bills, it is necessary to add a mechanism to protect the actual income of small business individuals.
The delegate of Ho Chi Minh City said that in the draft Law on Tax Administration (amended), there is currently no clear mechanism to exempt, reduce or extend taxes when people are affected by natural disasters and epidemics.
In reality, every time there are storms, floods, landslides or prolonged epidemics, it is very difficult for people to recover in a few months. If the tax is imposed too soon or too harshly, people will have to bear additional burdens: working hard, reinvesting in the economy with difficulties, possibly having to abandon small-scale production, return to processing or even quit their jobs.
The current draft does not have solid legal regulations to exempt, reduce, and extend taxes when natural disasters and epidemics occur for business individuals and small households. This causes people to expect a "special" mechanism approved by the Government or the National Assembly every time a storm, flood, or natural disaster occurs.
Recent reality clearly demonstrates that urgency: The Government has issued tax support for businesses and business households affected by storms and floods - such as tax reduction and tax payment extension for up to 2 years.
If we include a similar provision in the Law on Tax Administration, there will be no need to wait for each specific feature, but the support mechanism can be activated very quickly and synchronously, from the central to local levels - delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran emphasized.
Therefore, this delegate proposed that the draft Law on Tax Administration (amended) should have a provision stipulating tax exemption, reduction, and extension for at least 3 years for households and individuals affected by natural disasters or epidemics, when the competent authority announces the damage. The tax authority shall base on the damage verification record and the damage report of the natural disaster prevention agency to make a decision.
At the same time, the draft law should also clearly stipulate the procedures and authority: who decides on exemption, how to verify damage, the responsibility of tax authorities, how people complain if they do not enjoy the mechanism.
