HCM City unlikely to fulfil this year’s budget collection target

HCM City (VNA) - HCM City witnessed a sharp fall in budget collections in the first nine months of this year as a result of COVID-19, which will pose problems in fulfilling the annual target.

The southern economic hub was assigned to collect nearly 405.83 trillion VND (17.5 billion USD) for the State budget this year.

But only 60.5 percent of the figure, or 245.36 trillion VND, was collected between January and September, a decline of 14.6 percent year-on-year, according to the municipal Statistics Office.

Revenue from domestic sources was 161.87 trillion VND (down 11.2 percent), crude oil 8.49 trillion VND (down 50.4 percent), and export-import activities 75 trillion VND (down 14.8 percent).

While collections from State-owned enterprises fell 1.5 percent from a year earlier, the figure from non-State enterprises tumbled 16.2 percent.

Though budget revenue from personal income tax still rose in the first eight months, by 6.13 percent year-on-year, it was the slowest growth since 2017. Revenue from individuals’ production and business activities fell 1.69 percent and from asset leasing 2.93 percent, data reveals.

Experts said that as HCM City’s main production and business activities are in the industry, construction, and trade and service sectors which have been heavily affected by COVID-19, an adverse impact on budget revenue was inevitable.

Le Duy Minh, Director of the municipal Taxation Department, said collections have been down since April when the coronavirus first began to leave a sizeable mark.

If trends continue, the city may complete just 82.66 percent of this year’s target, he noted.

To give the task a boost, the municipal People’s Committee recently requested that local agencies press on with urgent solutions to assist pandemic-hit taxpayers over the remaining months of the year, step up administrative reform, and increase the provision of online public services.

It also asked the tax and customs departments to enhance measures to manage budget collections, fight transfer pricing, and collect tax arrears./.