No fees or charges

(Baonghean) - Nghe An Newspaper had an interview with the Director of the Tax Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance - Mr. Pham Dinh Thi, about some important contents of the Draft Law on Fees and Charges.

PV:Dear Director, recently, when collecting comments on the Draft Law on Fees and Charges, there were some opinions suggesting that it is necessary to regulate services provided by non-state organizations and individuals. Could you please tell us the Ministry of Finance's opinion on this issue?

Director Pham Dinh Thi:Regarding the above content, the Ministry of Finance believes that providing services provided by organizations

Mr. Pham Dinh Thi, Director of Tax Policy Department, Ministry of Finance.

In order to comply with the 2013 Constitution, ensure the rights and obligations of citizens, and ensure the specificity and transparency of the Law, the Ministry of Finance has coordinated with the National Assembly's review agency to receive the opinions of National Assembly deputies, and the list of fees and charges is detailed in the draft Law and assigned to the Government to specify, according to the fee and charge lines (if any). This allows for the unified implementation of fees and charges, ensuring feasibility in practice, but must ensure that no additional fees and charges arise in the List prescribed in the Law.

It should be noted that the list of fees and charges stipulated in the Law is quite large, the regulations on collection mechanisms, collection levels and collection methods depend on the characteristics and economic and technical standards of each type of fee and charge. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance finds it unfeasible to stipulate these contents in the Law itself, but will delegate to the Government, the Ministry of Finance and the Provincial People's Councils to decide specifically on the collection levels and collection methods appropriate to the nature and characteristics of each fee and charge in each specific locality.

PV:Is there a proposal to stipulate in the Law that all fees are paid 100% to the State budget, and that fees collected by public service units are retained in part, but the collection level and retention rate are stipulated in the Law?

Director Pham Dinh Thi:In Article 5 of the State Budget Law No. 83/2015/QH13 passed by the National Assembly at the 9th session of the 13th National Assembly, state budget revenue includes all revenues from taxes and fees; fees collected from service activities performed by state agencies, in case of contracted operating costs, they are deducted; fees collected from service activities performed by public service units and state-owned enterprises are paid to the state budget according to the provisions of law. Therefore, to ensure consistency in the legal system and to absorb opinions, the drafting agency plans to revise Article 10 of the Draft Law to comply with the provisions of the State Budget Law.

There have been proposals to stipulate in the Law the collection level and the percentage (%) left for fee collection organizations; the percentage left for collection organizations and localities at a unified level nationwide, and the Ministry of Finance believes that because the Draft has a fairly wide scope of regulation, including many fees and charges in many different sectors and fields; each fee and charge has its own specific nature, content, technical economic norms, and management mechanism. Therefore, determining the collection level and percentage left for fee collection organizations and localities in the Law is not feasible, but only stipulates the principles for determining the collection level and decentralizing to the Government and People's Councils to specify the collection level, payment, and percentage left for each fee to suit the reality.

Or there are opinions suggesting to add the responsibility of fee and charge collection organizations to collect correctly, collect fully and publicly the collection, management and use of fees and charges. However, fees and charges, in addition to being implemented according to the provisions of this Law, must also be implemented according to the provisions of the Law on Tax Administration. The Law on Tax Administration has clearly stipulated the obligations and responsibilities of organizations and individuals collecting and paying fees and charges (including organizations and individuals using fee-paying services and organizations collecting and paying fees and charges to the State budget). Therefore, the draft law does not need to stipulate further. Or as an opinion suggesting to stipulate the procedures for declaring and paying fees and charges right in the Law to ensure administrative procedure reform and reduce inconvenience for people. We have accepted this proposal and added it right in the Draft Law. However, to ensure feasibility, the drafting agency plans to propose the National Assembly to allow and assign the Government to stipulate detailed implementation.

PV:One of the hot spots regarding fees and charges in recent times is that many competent authorities have prescribed a number of fees that are not listed in the Law on Fees and Charges. According to the Director, how should this “bottleneck” be resolved?

Director Pham Dinh Thi:The regulation of the List of Fees and Charges in the Law aims to ensure consistency across the country, avoid the situation of self-issuance and collection of fees outside the list, creating burdens and causing frustration for people in the recent period. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance has proposed not to add the authority to allow local authorities to regulate a number of fees outside the List of the Law on Fees and Charges. In case of necessity, in accordance with their socio-economic development conditions, localities shall report to the Government to submit to the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration and decision to supplement the list. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance plans to submit to the National Assembly for permission to add a provision on the authority of the Provincial People's Committee. The Provincial People's Council naturally has the right to supervise the implementation of the law on fees and charges in the locality.

In fact, there are some opinions suggesting to remove the content of the regulation on the principle of determining the fee level "with appropriate profit"; for the service fee provided by the State agency, profit is not taken into account. There are opinions suggesting to add the principle of "fairness" and consider the principle of ensuring cost compensation in the principle of determining the fee level. In response to the opinions, the drafting agency has removed the principle of determining the fee level "with appropriate profit". However, in order to encourage organizations and individuals to participate in providing public services, reducing the burden on the State, it is expected to add the principle of encouraging socialization. At the same time, to ensure equality in rights and obligations of citizens according to the provisions of the 2013 Constitution, the principle of determining the fee level is added to "ensure fairness and equality in rights and obligations of citizens" and the principle of "ensuring cost compensation" is changed to "basically ensuring cost compensation" to demonstrate the State's support policy for vulnerable groups in society.

PV:Thank you very much, Director!

Red River(Perform)