On the morning of March 11, continuing the 43rd session, the National Assembly Standing Committee listened to Deputy Minister of Finance Bui Van Khang present a report on seeking opinions on reducing land rent in 2024 and issuing a Government Decree regulating the reduction of land rent in 2024.
Assessing the impact on state budget revenue from the reduction in land rent in 2024, Mr. Khang said that the expected land rent reduction according to the draft Decree is about 4,000 billion VND (equivalent to the expected land rent reduction in 2023 with a 30% reduction nationwide) corresponding to 0.26% of total state budget revenue per year and 9% of state budget revenue from land rent for year (calculated according to 2023 data).
Mr. Khang cited the above information at the Conference summarizing tax work in 2024 and deploying tax work tasks in 2025 on December 19, 2024, the General Department of Taxation reported: "The total state budget revenue in 2024 managed by tax authorities is estimated at VND 1,732,000 billion, equal to 116.5% of the estimate (exceeding VND 245,587 billion), equal to 113.7% compared to 2023".
"Therefore, the 2024 budget revenue estimate has been met and exceeded. Therefore, the reduction in land rent under this policy does not significantly affect the general state budget revenue but will have a great impact on the recovery and development of production and business of organizations, individuals, households, and enterprises; thereby increasing budget revenue from taxes (individual income tax, corporate income tax, etc.) to compensate for the reduction in revenue due to reduced land rent," said Mr. Khang.
Presenting the review report, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee (FC) Phan Van Mai said that the majority of opinions in the FC Committee agreed on the necessity of continuing to reduce land rent in 2024 as proposed by the Government.
Regarding the Government's proposal to submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee to agree on the reduction of land rent in 2024, according to Mr. Mai, the majority of opinions in the KTTC Committee believe that, according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 157 of the 2024 Land Law: "The Government stipulates other cases of exemption or reduction of land use fees, land rent not specified in Clause 1 of this Article after receiving the consent of the National Assembly Standing Committee" and Clause 4, Article 157 assigned to "The Government shall specify in detail".
Therefore, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly only gives opinions on other cases of exemption and reduction that have not been stipulated in Clause 1, Article 157, the regulation of reduction levels, and promulgation of Decrees under the authority of the Government.
Mr. Mai also said that there are opinions suggesting that the Government should clarify whether to implement this policy in the following years or not to avoid submitting it many times to a similar policy with complex procedures and extended time, reducing the effectiveness of the policy.
Discussing at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Finance Bui Van Khang said that if the 2024 land rent exemption policy is agreed by the National Assembly Standing Committee, in each case, it will be deducted from the tax for the following years.
Regarding the opinion on whether to continue implementing land rent exemption from 2025, Mr. Khang informed that the Government has reported to the National Assembly Standing Committee, asking for opinions on assigning the Government to be proactive, based on the practical operational situation of enterprises, to issue decrees on land rent exemption and reduction from 2025 onwards.
"This will help reduce administrative procedures" - Mr. Khang said.
Concluding the discussion session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh said that the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed to reduce land rent in 2024, the Government issued a Decree to reduce land rent in 2024.
However, Mr. Vu Hong Thanh raised the issue that the policy of reducing land rent will affect businesses because at that time, operating expenses increase, leading to increased taxable income.
"Balancing and calculating are complicated administrative procedures. If done early, this situation will not happen. The agencies requested the Government to clarify the impact of this in handling the issues in the inspection report of the Finance Committee mentioned above.
The National Assembly Standing Committee will issue a Resolution allowing the Government to issue a decree to implement this policy. Propose that the Government be responsible for the accuracy of information, reported data, and the necessity of developing and promulgating a Government Decree on reducing land prices in 2024,... Ensuring compliance with legal regulations, directing the handling of difficulties and problems in collecting, paying, refunding land rent or collecting late fees, and fines for subjects who are late or late in paying land rent" - Mr. Vu Hong Thanh said.
