Many small businesses and individuals said that the annual cost of premises, labor, electricity, water and raw materials exceeds 200 million VND.
The economy is difficult, many people's income is not enough to cover expenses or only makes a small profit to try to live frugally, maintain business, support elderly parents and children's education...
According to the draft Law VAT Amendment: VAT taxable revenue threshold for households and individuals doing business will be raised to over 200 million VND, instead of 100 million VND as at present.
However, many people think that the taxable revenue threshold should be raised to over 300 million in the midst of difficult business times with all kinds of expenses and little profit. Increasing the taxable revenue threshold is like "passing through a sieve and into a basket", helping them have a little more money to improve their lives, hire more workers, and contribute to economic development.
Profit about 100,000 VND/day
On a sunny afternoon, while rearranging the dangling shampoo strings in an old kiosk at a small market on Tran Khac Chan Street (Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City), Mr. Nguyen Hai Minh (71 years old) said that he pays a lump sum tax of more than 200,000 VND per month. He bought the stall a long time ago, and has been attached to it for nearly 30 years.
Mr. Minh's stall is tiny, with a frontage of less than 2 meters, and inside there is only enough room for a person to stand and sell. He said the past few years have been difficult, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. "Business is slow, I only make about 100,000 VND a day, living hand to mouth," he smiled and sighed sadly.
Every day, the couple goes from their home in Go Vap district to here to set up their stall at 6am. His wife helps sell until noon and then comes home to cook for her husband and several grandchildren who live with them. In the inner city, the meager income above has to cover the cost of food, living expenses, medicine, etc. for the elderly couple.
He said he was not familiar with taxes. business households, "if people say to close, then we will close". Having also been selling groceries for many years, Ms. Pham Ngoc Tien (45 years old, Binh Thanh district) said that her customers have decreased due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years, so people prefer to shop online and sit at home waiting for the goods to be delivered.
"Selling groceries is so slow now that I opened a sugarcane juice and roasted coffee cart to make up for the lost income, but it's just enough to make ends meet. People buy everything online, and selling groceries from 6am to 10pm can only bring in a revenue of over 500,000 VND. After deducting other expenses, there's not much left," Ms. Tien confided.
Ms. Tien said about ten years ago, if people said opening a grocery store would make them rich, they would still believe it, but now this industry is both hard and the profits and losses are unstable.
"The tax threshold is calculated on revenue. Now input costs and cost of goods sold have increased a lot, competition is fierce, even if revenue increases, profits decrease. This level increases to 300 million and is not enough to eat and raise a small child, let alone 200 million," Ms. Tien sighed.
The boss works for himself
If a few years ago, shops and restaurants often hired sales assistants and porters, now to cut costs, many owners have rolled up their sleeves and hired them to do the work themselves.
"Please give me a bowl of noodles" - hearing the customer call, Mr. Nguyen Tan Luc (42 years old, from Quang Ngai) hurriedly ran from the beverage counter to sell noodles. When he rested, he went back to the juice and coffee counter...
Renting a space on Chien Thang Street (Phu Nhuan District) for four years, the couple sells coffee and soft drinks. At around 10am, they start selling noodles.
It is called a restaurant but inside there are only a few tables and chairs, outside there is a noodle cart. Wiping his sweat, Mr. Luc said that before, he and his wife lived in the countryside with office jobs but their salaries were low so they came to Ho Chi Minh City to do business.
Every day, the couple manages to cover all kinds of expenses. He said: "We only make money by working, we rent this place to both sell goods and live, 12 million VND per month. Electricity and water are about 2 million VND more. Then there is the capital, ingredients to sell noodles..." He said that the daily profit is also unpredictable, some days we can earn 300,000 VND at most.
He and his wife have two children studying in the countryside, one in 10th grade and one in 8th grade. Every month, they live very frugally to send money back to the countryside to pay for their children's school fees and help their grandparents raise their grandchildren. They work all day and night, preparing broth and stewing bones at night, and setting up shop early in the morning to start a busy day, waiting for each customer during the slow season.
Although busy, the couple did not hire any help because of the high costs. They also did not take any days off, because every day they tried to make a revenue of 500,000 VND or more to cover the costs. "Only during Tet did we dare to go back to our hometown for a week. Just now, bus tickets cost nearly 2 million VND/person...", he said.
With the goal of ensuring that their two children can study well, Mr. Luc and his wife are very frugal. Also the owner of a small noodle and crab noodle shop on Truong Sa Street (District 3), Mrs. Sau Phuong (50 years old) said that business is very unstable.
She registered to sell through a food ordering app to get more customers, but that wasn’t much. Having been selling noodles for nearly ten years, Ms. Phuong said she opens her shop from 6am to late afternoon every day.
The cost of premises, electricity, water, materials, not to mention the effort... so the profit is only enough to live frugally. There was a time when she hired hourly help in the morning but it was too expensive so she stopped.
Regarding the tax rate in the draft revised VAT Law, she said that the State should consider making reasonable adjustments to the actual trading situation of business households. If the threshold of 200 million VND in revenue/year must be taxed, it will be difficult for people. small business retail, unstable revenue, sometimes loss, sometimes profit a little to make up for a frugal life like hers.
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