Improving market transparency, limiting gold speculation
There have long been opinions that it is necessary to tax gold transactions, because this not only reduces the demand for gold of people and investors, prevents speculation and manipulation of gold prices, but also creates conditions for the State budget to have more revenue, but also equity between investment channels of gold - securities - real estate, a method to fight against "golding" the economy.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu, former Editor-in-Chief of Tax Magazine, lecturer at Hanoi University of Business and Technology, affirmed:
"In principle, gold, like any other good or service, has income from business, so it must pay tax. Current laws from personal income tax, corporate income tax to value added tax are all clearly regulated, not excluding any business activities.
"However, in documents guiding the implementation of the law, individuals trading in gold are left out, creating a policy loophole. Meanwhile, other investment channels such as real estate, securities or goods and services are paying taxes stably, while gold - which is a special investment channel, subject to many risks and fluctuations - is out of the system. This causes both inequality and creates a favorable environment for speculation and price manipulation, causing the domestic gold market to fluctuate unusually frequently, not related to world prices" - Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tu analyzed.
According to Mr. Tu, taxing gold trading will help change investor behavior. When each purchase and sale must calculate additional tax costs, people will have to adjust their behavior, reduce "surfing" and short-term speculation, thereby the real demand for gold for storage and consumption will be the main one.
The market is therefore more transparent, supply and demand are more balanced and gold prices are stable.
"However, the policy also needs to take into account specific cases such as selling gold for treatment, taking care of family matters, or gold being stored for many years, even from inheritance. This is not a business activity so tax should not be applied. Therefore, there needs to be a reasonable threshold, such as a gold tree or more, and at the same time, there needs to be a clear mechanism to distinguish between speculative transactions and people's needs" - this expert proposed.
By doing so, the policy not only creates fairness with other investment channels, but also contributes to cleaning up the gold market, reducing speculation, limiting the situation of domestic prices "floating" too much compared to the world.
What to do to avoid the situation of goldifying the economy?
In an interview with Lao Dong reporter, Professor. Tran Tho Dat - Chairman of the Science and Training Council, National Economics University, said that in order to avoid both the situation of "golding" the economy and promoting the role of gold as a legal investment channel, Vietnam needs to synchronously deploy a number of solutions.
First of all, it is necessary to consider gold as a common financial commodity, bringing gold back to its rightful position in the asset system, instead of letting it dominate psychology as a form of underground currency.
This can be achieved through the development of alternative investment products such as gold certificates, futures contracts, options contracts, and gold ETFs, allowing investors to participate in the market without necessarily holding physical gold.
Second, it is necessary to establish a centralized gold trading floor, operating transparently, and interconnecting with world gold prices to form a standard price level, limiting unreasonable differences in capital to encourage speculation and smuggling. This is also a platform for market management using market mechanisms instead of administrative orders.
Third, the State should mobilize gold resources among the people through programs of depositing gold for interest, issuing bonds or gold trust fund certificates. This approach not only creates a legal and safe investment channel for people, but also converts potential resources into capital for socio-economic development, reducing the simple motor of gold accumulation.
Finally, it is necessary to strengthen financial education and diversify investment channels. When people have many attractive and safe options such as stocks, bonds, insurance or real estate, the need to consider gold as a "only haven" will decrease, thereby limiting the risk of re-golding".
Prof. Tran Tho Dat believes that with the combination of management mechanism reform, modern financial instrument development and diversification of investment options, Vietnam can both avoid the "gold trap" and promote gold as a legal and transparent investment channel.
