In the third working week of the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly (November 3-7, 2025), the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended) continues to attract special attention from delegates. Many opinions say that the current tax policy has revealed many shortcomings, especially not keeping up with the development speed of the digital economy and changes in the income structure of people.
In the context of the digital economy continuously creating many new types of income, while the legal framework on taxes is still slow to be updated, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Xuan Truong - Head of the Faculty of Taxation and Customs, Academy of Finance said that the project to amend the Law on Personal Income Tax submitted by the Ministry of Finance to the National Assembly this time is extremely necessary.
He emphasized that the goal of the amendment is not only to increase revenue for the state budget, but more importantly, to adjust the income distribution mechanism, towards a fair, transparent tax policy that fully covers new sources of revenue. The completion of the law needs to be carried out comprehensively, from determining taxable income sources, tax table structure, family deduction levels to regulations on tax exemption, thereby properly reflecting the people's ability to contribute and improving the adaptability of the tax system in the digital economic era.
Proposal to reorganize and expand the scope of taxable income
To suit the new context, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Xuan Truong said that the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended) needs to rearrange the taxable income system, ensuring both comprehensiveness and avoid overlap.
He also said that the scope of income from business should be expanded, including e-commerce activities, digital platform cooperation, brokerage and digital content production, because these are areas that generate a lot of personal income but do not have a suitable tax collection mechanism.
Along with that, it is necessary to add income from inheritance, gifts such as digital assets, bank deposits and other assets of great value, because these are items that can be controlled in the context of digital transformation and transparency of financial transactions.
Adjust tax rates, reduce family deductions and tax exemptions
According to the draft submitted to the National Assembly, the progressive tax table will be shortened from 7 levels to 5 levels, helping to simplify tax calculation and better reflect the contribution capacity of taxpayers.
Mr. Le Xuan Truong assessed that in addition to streamlining, it is necessary to increase the highest taxable income threshold to 1.5 billion VND/year (equivalent to 810 times GDP per capita) and reduce the maximum tax rate from 35% to 30%. This approach is bothologically reasonable and motivates workers with high incomes and special skills.
Regarding family deductions, he proposed to increase the personal deduction for taxpayers from 11 to 15.6 million VND/month, and at the same time add a deduction for health, education and disability expenses.
More importantly, it is necessary to give the Government, instead of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the right to adjust the annual deduction level so that the policy is updated promptly with economic fluctuations and living prices.
Regarding tax exemption, he said that it is necessary to continue to maintain a humane policy for transferring and inheriting real estate between relatives, but it is necessary to apply a specific value threshold to avoid taking advantage and ensure fairness.
Towards a fair and adaptive tax system
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Le Xuan Truong, the goal of this amendment to the Tax Law is not only to increase budget revenue, but also to establish a reasonable income regulation mechanism, ensuring that people with high incomes contribute more, while low-income people are protected.
He emphasized that in order for the policy to be effective, it is necessary to reform tax management in parallel, especially the application of digital technology in declaring, controlling and processing personal income data. This not only increases transparency, but also reduces compliance costs for taxpayers.
Amending the Law on Personal Income Tax is a necessary step for the Vietnamese tax system to catch up with the transformation of the digital economy, ensuring fairness and transparency in income regulation. When policies are designed reasonably, both expanding the tax base and reducing the burden on people, the new Law will contribute to building a modern, flexible and fair tax system, creating a solid foundation for sustainable economic growth.
