family deduction and living expenses
In the context of increasing prices of goods and services, many workers believe that the current family deduction level has not kept up with changes in living standards.
Mr. Ngo Thai Minh (Dong Anh district, Hanoi), an office worker with a salary of 15 million VND/month, said that the increasing family living expenses forced him to carefully balance his expenses.
"When I heard about the proposal to increase the family deduction, I thought this would help reduce financial pressure somewhat, helping my family have more room to spend more reasonably in the context of fluctuating prices" - Mr. Minh shared.
Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha (Long Bien district, Hanoi) also said that living prices have tended to increase in recent years, but the family deduction level remains unchanged, not fully reflecting the actual spending of workers.
"Living expenses have changed a lot, from food prices, rent to essential services. Meanwhile, the family deduction is still 11 million VND/month, which may not be really commensurate with the current spending level" - Ms. Ha said.
Need to consider adjusting to suit reality
According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy - CEO of the Faculty of Finance - Banking (Nguyen Trai University), the consideration of adjusting the family deduction level should be placed in the context of fluctuations in prices and purchasing power of workers.
Mr. Huy analyzed that with an income of 20 million VND/month in 2020, after deducting the family deduction, the taxable income still remains at 9 million VND. However, if this salary does not increase in the current period, while living expenses have been adjusted according to inflation, financial pressure on workers may be greater than before.
"A more flexible tax policy, which can be associated with socio-economic fluctuations, will help ensure the reasonableness and suitability with people's actual income" - Mr. Huy commented.
Some experts propose that the family deduction can be adjusted to 15 - 17 million VND/month to be closer to the current cost of living.
Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu - Lecturer at Hanoi University of Business and Technology - said that the current regulations on family deduction based on the consumer price index (CPI) with an adjustment threshold when the CPI increases above 20%, may not fully reflect the standard of living of workers.
"The CPI includes more than 700 items, while workers often only consume some essential groups of goods such as food, food, electricity, water. Therefore, adjusting the family deduction level needs to consider this factor to ensure it is suitable for practice" - Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu assessed.
Some localities have proposed raising the family deduction to 18 million VND/month, equivalent to about 4 times the current regional minimum wage. According to Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu, this could be a flexible adjustment to make tax policies more suitable for economic fluctuations and the living standards of workers.
The amendment of the Law on personal income tax is being studied, in which the content of the family deduction level will continue to be considered to ensure its reasonableness and suitability with socio-economic reality.
The workshop " individual Income Tax Law - Ensuring fairness, promoting growth" organized by Lao Dong Newspaper in coordination with the National Economics University, took place at 2:00 p.m. on March 14, 2025 at the headquarters of Lao Dong Newspaper, No. 6 Pham Van Bach, Cau Giay, Hanoi. The event was attended by financial and economic experts, representatives of management agencies and enterprises, discussing the adjustment of family deduction levels, methods of calculating personal income tax and proposals of policies suitable to reality. The workshop was held in person and online on the platforms of Lao Dong Newspaper.
