Don't let it turn into bad debt that is difficult to solve.

(Baonghean) - The situation of tax arrears and issues related to the resettlement of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant are two issues put on the agenda at the question and answer session of this Provincial People's Council meeting. The reason is that these are two long-standing issues that have not been thoroughly resolved by relevant agencies, but have also caused quite a bit of scandal, significantly affecting the budget collection in the area and causing difficulties for the lives of a segment of residents who are ethnic minorities who voluntarily left their homeland and villages where they were born and raised for generations to make way for the hydropower plant. Their great sacrifice has not yet been properly rewarded. The issue here is to clearly identify the causes leading to the delay in handling and how to completely resolve these two outstanding issues.

First of all, the problem of tax arrears is at an alarming level, mainly due to businesses being late in paying taxes. Late payment is because the country's economy has not yet escaped the recession, leading to many difficulties in production and business activities, and unsold goods have not been released, leading to many businesses ceasing operations, fleeing, dissolving or operating at a low level, so they owe taxes. However, there are also many businesses that are doing well but are slow and deliberately delaying their tax payment obligations to the State. Therefore, the first thing to do is for the tax sector to coordinate with relevant agencies to clearly identify which businesses are truly incapable or unable to pay taxes due to business losses and which businesses are deliberately slow in order to have appropriate solutions. Especially in cases of slowness. It can be seen that businesses that do not pay taxes on time, in addition to poor awareness and responsibility, are mainly due to the profits brought about by delaying tax payments.

According to the analysis of experts in this field, when taxpayers pay taxes late, for each day of late payment, the taxpayer must pay a penalty with a certain interest rate. But this rate is still much more favorable than the interest rate that businesses have to borrow from banks. Therefore, businesses are willing to find all ways to delay tax obligations in order to appropriate state capital for turnover. The later they pay, the more profitable they are. Therefore, it is necessary to amend the penalty mechanism so that businesses no longer dare to delay. On the part of the authorities, due to lack of determination, deference and possibly collusion to "eat snacks" as the Minister of Finance himself stated at the tax conference not long ago, it leads to tax debt and tax delay by taxpayers. It is time to study and apply a tougher management mechanism to minimize tax arrears and create revenue for the budget. Be tough on both those who deliberately delay paying taxes and tax officials who let the situation drag on. If not handled promptly, collecting backlogged taxes will become increasingly difficult as the amount of money will grow larger and larger, far exceeding the ability of businesses to pay their tax debts. Do not wait until the time comes when the tax authorities have to freeze or write off debts as they did before.

Regarding the resettlement of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, it is clear that the Party Committees, authorities and relevant agencies and units have not fully implemented the resettlement policy set forth by the Party and State that the new place of residence must be better than or equal to the old place of residence. In reality, the lives of people in the resettlement area have improved in some aspects, but there are also some aspects that are worse and more difficult than the old place of residence. Especially in terms of livelihood and land for cultivation. This issue has been widely reported by the public, so there is no need to say more here. What needs to be discussed here is that for a long time, whenever people talk about the shortcomings and inadequacies of the resettlement area, they often only blame one side, which is the Management Board of Hydropower Plant II, without paying attention to or seeing the full responsibility of the entire local political system in solving the problem of stabilizing and improving the lives of people in the resettlement area. Therefore, to solve the post-resettlement problem of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, there must be the participation of local Party committees, authorities and associations under the direct guidance of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. It is necessary to create coordination between investors and local authorities and provincial departments to develop long-term production plans for the people. The team of professional staff needs to go deep into the people, guide them by hand so that they can gradually adapt and grasp the basic skills of the new working and production methods to achieve high efficiency. In addition to the support of Hydropower Company II, Nghe An province also needs to allocate budget from the tax revenue of Hydropower Plant II to invest in a number of programs and projects to develop production and infrastructure for the resettlement area, helping people to soon stabilize their lives. Once settled and settled in a new land, few people want to return to their old hometowns.

The last thing I want to discuss is that once the two issues above are put on the agenda, there should be a way to resolve them completely and not let them linger forever. Because there are many new issues that continue to arise in daily life that need to be resolved promptly. If we let old issues pile up on new ones, it will be very difficult to resolve. Over time, they will accumulate and turn into bad debts that are difficult to resolve.

Duy Huong