Nghe An is determined to take strong action against mineral enterprises that 'circumvent the law' to evade taxes.

Overview of the questioning session. Photo: Thanh Cuong

EXPLOIT MORE, DECLARE LESS

At the question and answer session, many delegates raised the issue of preventing tax losses in mineral exploitation activities. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy An, delegate of Anh Son district, asked the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to inform which sector and level is responsible for preventing tax losses in mineral exploitation activities? What solutions should be focused on that are strong enough to avoid wasting State budget resources?

Responding to delegate Thuy An, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said: The Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and the leaders of the Provincial People's Committee have given very strong directions to prevent budget losses in mineral exploitation. The Provincial People's Committee has clearly assigned tasks to relevant sectors such as Tax, Market Management, Customs Department, etc.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy An, delegate of Anh Son district, questioned. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Accordingly, tax loss prevention is implemented through solutions such as controlling taxable output by conventional measures such as checking documents, weighing stations, tax declaration books of enterprises, and controlling input of factories when using products.

In addition, carry out inspections, checks, and set up checkpoints to prevent tax evasion, especially in areas with many minerals such as Quy Hop, there are always 2 interdisciplinary checkpoints; at the same time, control input materials of projects, invoices, and documents for buying, selling, and using sand, gravel, and construction stone.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet also said: The Provincial People's Committee has issued Official Dispatch No. 8725 dated November 11, 2021, in which the Nghe An Tax Department is assigned to preside over and coordinate with a number of departments and branches to find solutions to prevent tax losses in the field of mineral exploitation.

Currently, the Provincial People's Committee has established an interdisciplinary delegation to inspect the compliance with the law in mineral activities for 12 large-scale enterprises and many comments related to mineral activities, especially related to illegal mining designs and tax losses. The delegation has conducted the first inspection of the enterprise in Quy Hop and collected more than 1.2 billion VND in taxes; and is proceeding to submit to the Provincial People's Committee to impose a fine of 345 million VND.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet - Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment answered questions. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Regarding this issue, Mr. Trinh Thanh Hai - Director of Nghe An Tax Department said that currently, the Tax sector is managing 294 organizations and enterprises that exploit minerals, pay resource tax and environmental protection fees. In 2020, these enterprises paid 869 billion VND and in 11 months of 2021 paid 1,125 billion VND, equivalent to nearly 8% of the total State budget revenue in the province. Budget revenue from mineral exploitation activities has grown over the years and is making a very important contribution to the State budget revenue.

However, mineral exploitation activities are always a sensitive and risky field. Therefore, in recent times, the Tax sector has advised on many measures to prevent tax losses such as: Establishing norms for the consumption of explosives in stone mining, norms for energy consumption in stone processing, verifying goods through ports, and establishing interdisciplinary teams in Quy Hop district. These solutions have made an important contribution to preventing budget losses; accordingly, in 2020, more than 25 billion VND was collected and fined, and in 11 months of 2021, 15.6 billion VND was collected and fined.

However, according to the Director of Nghe An Tax Department, resource management in general and budget collection management in particular for mineral activities still have many shortcomings, and waste, loss of resources and tax losses still occur.

To prove the above statement, Mr. Trinh Thanh Hai pointed out two phenomena. First of all, the phenomenon of illegal mining, or mining beyond the designed capacity, occurred in the mining activities of soil, stone, sand, gravel, including tin ore in Quy Hop. The reason is that the actual demand for resources and minerals is greater than the reserves and capacity licensed for annual mining.

Mr. Trinh Thanh Hai - Director of Nghe An Tax Department further explained about solutions to prevent tax loss in mineral exploitation activities. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Mr. Trinh Thanh Hai also pointed out the phenomenon of high exploitation but tax declaration and actual exploitation output are very low. The Tax Department has reviewed and discovered this phenomenon but the department does not have enough authority and does not have the expertise to determine the exact actual exploitation output.

Mr. Chu The Huyen - Chief Inspector of the province, representative of Dien Chau district, spoke at the questioning session. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Also related to this issue, through the inspection work, Mr. Chu The Huyen - Chief Inspector of the province, representative of Dien Chau district expressed confusion between the mineral exploitation reserves in the licensing decision and the actual exploitation of the enterprise. Thereby, he asked the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to give a solution to completely resolve this situation?

Responding to this content, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghe An said that he had grasped this situation at the tin mining enterprise in Quy Hop and had conducted an inspection; thereby requesting additional declarations to avoid loss of the State budget. The reason, according to Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet, was that the previous exploration and assessment of reserves were at the licensed level, but during the exploitation process, additional output was discovered.

The head of the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment also affirmed: The Provincial People's Committee is directing to review these cases for handling and requiring enterprises to re-declare according to actual reserves when discovering additional output.

HIGHLIGHTING THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HEAD

To address the current problems in mineral exploitation activities in the province, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Hoang Quoc Viet has proposed specific solutions.

Accordingly, when answering Mr. Nguyen Hong Son, representative of Ky Son district about administrative reform, Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet said that he had directed departments and offices to review administrative procedures to cut them to the maximum to create the most favorable conditions for people and businesses. Accordingly, for the mineral sector, 323 days were cut.

This is the biggest cut in the history of the industry. The processing of documents is completed before the allowed time. Regarding public affairs, the Director regularly urges, reviews, and sets an example, handling each day to ensure the fastest procedures.

Provincial leaders discuss on the sidelines of the question and answer session. Photo: Thanh Cuong

Along with that, when answering delegate Que Thi Tram Ngoc (Quy Chau district) about solutions to improve the quality and effectiveness of implementing the coordination regulations between departments, branches, sectors as well as People's Committees at all levels in the management of mineral resources, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghe An affirmed that the documents issued by the province are very complete to implement the laws and decrees of the Government on mineral exploitation management, especially handling illegal exploitation. Localities also signed coordination regulations between localities in mineral exploitation.

However, according to Mr. Hoang Quoc Viet, although the document is clear, illegal mineral exploitation still occurs because some localities have not implemented it strictly and resolutely.

In the coming time, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment is advising the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial Party Standing Committee to issue a Directive to strengthen State management of minerals in the area, which will require additional issues of responsibility, especially the responsibility of the head of the Party Committee, to bring the political system into play, to better manage minerals, especially to protect unexploited minerals.

Major General Pham The Tung - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department clarified a number of issues on promoting the role of the communal police force in the fight against illegal mineral exploitation. Photo: Thanh Cuong

On the other hand, the Department is speeding up licensing procedures for soil and sand mines to serve projects to limit illegal mining in the area; at the same time, continuing to coordinate with departments, branches and localities to advise the Provincial People's Committee to strictly handle illegal mineral exploitation activities.

Regarding this issue, in response to delegate Ho Sy Nguyet (Quynh Luu district) asking: What solutions has the provincial police had to assign responsibility to the regular commune police in preventing illegal mineral exploitation activities from the beginning? Major General Pham The Tung - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Provincial Police said that 2,000 regular police officers have been deployed to 428 communes in the province. The commune police force has also inspected, arrested, and handled 238 cases with 254 subjects related to illegal mineral exploitation.

Provincial People's Council delegates attend the question and answer session. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The Provincial Police Director also said that he had assigned the police force to count the number of illegal mining sites and mineral material gathering places, thereby assigning responsibility to the commune and town police chiefs with illegal mining activities to advise the Party Committee and authorities on how to resolve the case; at the same time, if violations occur and are discovered and arrested by other functional agencies, the commune police chief who allows illegal mining to occur will be held responsible.

THE PROVINCIAL PEOPLE'S COUNCIL WILL SUPERVISE MINERAL EXPLOITATION ACTIVITIES

Concluding this content, Mr. Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council assessed that the questioning session took place enthusiastically, basically closely following the content, with a focus and key points in the spirit of frankness, objectivity, construction and high responsibility towards voters.

Mr. Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council concluded the questioning on State management in the field of minerals. Photo: Thanh Cuong

The Standing Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Nghe An province also emphasized 5 contents that need to focus on to effectively implement State management in mineral activities in the coming time, especially the need to promote inspection, examination, supervision, and strictly handle violations in mineral exploitation activities.

Mr. Nguyen Nam Dinh also said that the Provincial People's Council will organize a thematic supervision delegation on mineral exploitation activities in the province, which is planned to take place in the last 6 months of 2022.

Questioning, answering questions to the point, frankly and responsibly

(Baonghean.vn) - This is the conclusion of comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Provincial Party Secretary, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council after the question and answer session of the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Director of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of the province at the 4th session of the 18th Provincial People's Council.