On the afternoon of November 5, continuing the program of the 10th Session, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Law on Tax Administration (amended); the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (amended) and the draft Law on Savings and Combat of Wastefulness.
Delegate Ma Thi Thuy (National Assembly Delegation (NAD) of Tuyen Quang province) commented on the issue of family deduction (GTGC) in the draft Law on Personal Income Tax (PIT) (amended).
This female delegate said that this issue has been resolved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on adjusting the GTGC level of personal income tax.
Accordingly, the new deduction for each dependent is 6.2 million VND/month, after deducting social insurance, health insurance, and unemployment insurance (an increase of about 40% compared to the current); applied from the 2026 tax calculation period.
However, delegate Thuy said that this issue is being regulated firmly, without discrimination between dependents and without clearly distinguishing subjects.
For example, subjects studying in high school or university; high or low costs, in rural or urban areas; subjects having to care for people with disabilities, long-term illnesses, serious illnesses, etc.
According to this delegate, if the actual cost is calculated, a family raising a child to study at university will have many times the cost compared to a family raising a child under 18 years old.
According to the delegate's calculation, a family with children studying in Hanoi has to spend an average of 10 million VND/month. The family has to support the sick and the disabled, and the disabled also suffer a great burden.
With the current salary of cadres and civil servants, living in big cities is very difficult, with high costs, it will be difficult to save to buy social housing, invest in education, health care, etc.
From the above analysis, the delegate proposed to regulate higher GTGC levels for specific groups. For example, instead of applying the general GTGC of 6.2 million VND/person, applying the GTGC for university students is from 6.5-7 million VND/person.
As for dependents who are disabled and have serious illnesses, the deduction will increase to 8 million VND/person. For children under 18 years old, the deduction is about 4.4 million VND/person.
This delegate added that the Government is assigned to regulate the GTGC level in accordance with the socio-economic situation in each period. This regulation is completely reasonable for flexibility, and should not be regulated rigidly in the draft law.
Accordingly, the content of deductions must be consistent with each stage of people's income development. It is necessary to supplement the principles in assigning the Government to regulate deductions such as the regulation on the amount of VAT that needs to ensure the minimum cost for taxpayers and dependents.
Sharing the same view, delegate Nguyen Thanh Phuong (Can Tho National Assembly delegation) proposed that the tax calculation must be based on actual income after deducting the minimum living expenses, and must ensure that people "can calculate the tax whether they have enough to live on or not".
The delegate cited budget revenue figures for 2023 and 2024 showing that personal income tax only accounts for 9 - 10% of total budget revenue. Thus, personal income tax is not the main source of income. Therefore, if we want to make salary workers have a better life and get rich, the tax rate will be appropriate.
"The main source of state revenue should come from production and business. When salary workers have a better life, they have accumulated, at least have a place to live, raise their children, and live properly, they do not mind taxing" - delegate Thanh Phuong said.
