By the end of 2023, tax debt will reach more than 163,000 billion VND

On the afternoon of May 20, the National Assembly continued to work in a plenary session to listen to Government members report on the results of practicing thrift and combating waste in 2023 and the Inspection report.

In the Report on the results of implementing thrift and combating waste in 2023, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said that the State budget revenue in 2023 will reach 1,754 trillion VND, an increase of 133,400 billion VND (up 8.2% compared to the estimate).

Implement policies to exempt, reduce, and extend taxes, fees, charges, and land rents of nearly VND 194,000 billion. State budget expenditure in 2023 is estimated at VND 2,109 trillion, equal to 101.6% of the estimate, an increase of nearly VND 74,000 billion.

The management of state budget expenditures is proactively and closely implemented according to estimates, ensuring compliance with policies and regimes, thoroughly saving regular expenditures, and cutting unnecessary and slow-to-implement spending tasks. The total savings in state budget and capital in 2023 according to reports from ministries, branches and localities is VND 83,000 billion.

According to the report, by the end of 2023, the scale of public debt/GDP is estimated at about 37%, government debt/GDP is estimated at about 34% and the government's direct debt repayment obligation/state budget revenue is about 19%, within the scope allowed by the National Assembly.

Estimated borrowing and repayment of Government-guaranteed debt in 2023 within the approved limit, total outstanding guaranteed debt as of December 31, 2023 is estimated at about VND 279,719 billion, equivalent to about 2.7% of GDP, down VND 18,243 billion compared to 2022.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

Reviewing this report, Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh pointed out a number of limitations and shortcomings in the implementation of the Results of practicing thrift and combating waste in 2023.

In particular, the Government's management, implementation and close, synchronous coordination of tax administration agencies, People's Committees at all levels with functional agencies in handling tax arrears have continued to be improved.

"The tax debt situation tends to increase and is getting higher, adversely affecting the handling of tax debt collection. By December 31, 2023, the tax debt was VND 163,591 billion, an increase of 10.7% compared to December 31, 2022," Mr. Manh stated.

In addition, the Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee said that the work of perfecting institutions still has shortcomings and limitations that have not been overcome. Some ministries and branches have not properly implemented the legislative plan, and there is still a delay in putting laws and ordinances into the program; the delay in issuing detailed regulations and instructions for the implementation of laws and ordinances continues to occur.

There is also a delay in budget allocation, especially the allocation of revenue increase sources and savings in the central budget in 2022, which will only be implemented near the end of the year. The amount of transferred resources is still large and is slow to be resolved, causing waste and reducing the efficiency of capital use.

The progress of disbursement of public investment capital in a number of ministries, branches and localities is slow due to many reasons that have been pointed out in reports over the past many years, but there have been no resolute solutions and effective, thorough remedies. The results of public investment capital disbursement in 2023 show that 91/115 ministries, central agencies and localities have disbursement rates below the national average, with some units having disbursement rates below 10% of the capital plan.

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Le Quang Manh (Photo: Quochoi.vn).

It is worth mentioning that the equitization and divestment of state-owned enterprises still face many difficulties, obstacles, and slow progress. In 2023, state capital will be divested from only 5 enterprises, earning 24 billion VND; corporations, general companies, and state-owned enterprises will divest from 7 enterprises, earning 206.3 billion VND.

“Some enterprises and projects with State investment capital are losing money, operating inefficiently, are slow to handle and overcome, or are still stuck in legal procedures,” the audit report emphasized.

The National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee recommends that the Government accelerate the rearrangement of housing and land facilities; approve business plans and business partnerships of agencies, organizations and enterprises to avoid waste, loss and risk of corruption. Continue to complete the national database on land, public assets, labor, etc.; strictly manage and have plans to handle the waste of land resources, offices, public housing, and public welfare works in some localities.

Resolve difficulties in implementing the autonomy mechanism of public service units, especially the autonomy mechanism in the fields of health, education, science and technology; provide guidance on determining job positions and staff structure according to professional titles; promptly issue a list of basic and essential public service services in each sector and field.

Research and find solutions to perfect the policy mechanism for equitization, divestment, and restructuring of state-owned enterprises, improve the efficiency of production and business activities, preserve and develop state capital invested in production and business activities at enterprises.

There are effective solutions to increase efficiency, practice thrift, and combat waste in production and business of enterprises and people through stabilizing the monetary and credit markets; rationally managing exchange rates and interest rates; reducing lending interest rates, removing inappropriate barriers in circulation and distribution, and removing difficulties for real estate and labor markets .

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/het-nam-2023-so-no-thue-dat-hon-163000-ty-dong-a664444.html