Why is Coi market in Vinh city at risk of closing?
(Baonghean.vn) - Although it has existed for many years, Coi market in Hung Loc commune (Vinh city) is facing the risk of closing because the management unit has submitted a request to return the land lease contract due to excessive and unreasonable taxes. This is a "rare" event and faces many possible consequences once the market closes.
Management unit submits application for land return
Hung Loc Cooperative - the unit managing Coi market, was established decades ago, before 1998 this unit was called Hung Loc Agricultural Cooperative. From 1998 to now, it was renamed Hung Loc Cooperative and was granted a multi-industry business license by the State, including the category of market management and exploitation. Currently, Hung Loc Cooperative has 750 members, mainly farmers and some small traders doing business at Coi market, and at the same time manages an agricultural land area of 178 hectares (excluding the area recovered for project implementation).
RegardingCoi market constructionOn September 26, 2008, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision 4213/QD-UBND.DT allowing the People's Committee of Hung Loc commune to choose a location to build Coi market with a survey area of 8,638m2.2In October 2009, the Provincial People's Committee issued a Decision approving the detailed construction planning at a scale of 1/500 on an area of 8,638m2.2, total construction area of the project is 3,128m2(construction density 36%). However, by 2009, due to issues related to investment capital, regulations on market management... Hung Loc Commune People's Committee submitted a report to Vinh City People's Committee on transferring investment, construction and management of Coi Market to Hung Loc Cooperative. By October 2009, Vinh City People's Committee agreed to this policy.
In 2011, Hung Loc Cooperative mobilized capital contributions from small traders (who do business at the market) to invest in the construction of Coi market and put it into use from 2012 until now. The market has a total area of 6,777.5m2, but the construction area is only 2,750m2accounting for 40.5%. The remaining area is for roads, sanitary works, fire protection tanks, ditches...
Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa - Director of Hung Loc Cooperative said: Coi Market planned 302 business locations, but currently only 265 locations are occupied. Because after the Covid-19 pandemic, people's business habits changed, most of the people selling clothes and dry goods in the market switched to online business, so the market management unit encountered many difficulties because nearly 65 business households left their booth locations to other places.
In the context of difficult business operations, in 2022, Hung Loc Cooperative was signed by the Provincial People's Committee to lease land, and at the same time applied a land rental price of VND 15,595,000/m2, then taxed at 1,268,341,350 VND/year (no reduction in land rent). After being imposed an excessively high land rent, Hung Loc Cooperative also submitted many documents to the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Finance regarding the adjustment of land rent at Coi market. On September 23, 2022, the Provincial People's Committee also issued Official Dispatch No. 7302/UBND-CN assigning the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Finance and relevant agencies to consider the proposal of Hung Loc Cooperative. However, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment later responded in writing that the appraised price would remain the same.
Unreasonable in tax calculation?
Digging deeper into this issue, we learned that on December 20, 2019, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 57/2019/QD-UBND promulgating the land price list in Vinh city from January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2024. It is worth noting that in this land price list, the Coi market area, Le Viet Thuat street has a price of 7.3 million VND/m2However, in Decision 231/QD-UBND dated June 21, 2022 of the Provincial People's Committee on approving the average land price of the land leased by Hung Loc Cooperative in Hung Loc, it increased to 15,595,000 VND/m2This is clearly inappropriate as Decision 231 has made a mistake compared to Decision 57 which is currently in effect and the time limit is being applied.
Pursuant to Decision 231, on April 14, 2023, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment represented the Provincial People's Committee to sign a Land Lease Contract with Hung Loc Cooperative, in which the leased area is 6,777.5m2, with unit price of 187,140 VND/m2.
It is worth mentioning that in the Decision on ranking markets in Vinh city issued in 2014, Coi market was ranked as a class 2 market and was only allowed to collect the highest kiosk rental fee of 48,000 VND/m2.2. “In fact, the highest rental price is 48,000 VND/m2There are only a few kiosks on the street with nice premises, while the rental prices for kiosks inside the market are even lower" - Mr. Nguyen Van Hoa said.
In particular, during the process of researching this issue, we obtained a price list comparing the land rental prices of Coi market with Vinh University market (Ben Thuy market) and some cooperatives in the area and found a large difference. Specifically, Vinh University market managed by Ben Thuy Cooperative has an area of 4,318.8m2, rental price is 78,121 VND/m2, the total tax payable is 168,694,488 VND (50% reduction in land rent); Dai Hue Cooperative, the management unit of Dai Hue Plaza building right at the beginning of Nguyen Phong Sac Street (Hai Quan roundabout area), with an area of 4,009.7m2, but the land rental price is only 104,518 VND/m2, the total annual tax payable is 209,543,000 VND (50% reduction in land rent). Or at Quyet Thang Cooperative, 400m2 is rented2Production and business land in team 5, also in Hung Loc commune, but the rental price is only 38,808 VND/m2, total land rent is only 7,761,600 VND/m2(50% reduction in land rent).
Meanwhile, Hung Loc Cooperative rented 6,777.5m2The land in Coi market is rented at 187,140 VND/m2.2and the total tax payable is 1,268,341,350 VND/year (no land rent reduction). It is worth mentioning that from 2021 onwards, when Vinh Tax Department calculated land rent for Coi market, it was only about 140 million VND per year (50% rent reduction).
Mr. Nguyen Dang Thanh - Chairman of Hung Loc Commune People's Committee said: Currently, the locality has known about this incident and has been invited to attend the upcoming meeting of Hung Loc Cooperative. Mr. Thanh himself also said that the land rental price at Coi market as mentioned above is unreasonable. If Hung Loc Cooperative returns the land rental contract and Coi market, it will certainly cause many problems, from which unit will replace the management, fire prevention and fighting, environmental sanitation and many other problems will be solved...
Obviously, with this method of calculating land rent, and the amount of money the management unit is allowed to collect from small traders (based on the market ranking), it is not necessary to use advanced calculations to know that the management unit will suffer heavy losses. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the issue thoroughly, in order to ensure the harmony of interests between the State and enterprises and ensure the livelihood of the people for the traditional market type.
