Export difficulties affect budget revenue

Real estate revenues are estimated to decrease by 54.2% over the same period due to the slow recovery of the real estate market. Illustration photo: H.Anh

Budget revenue decreased by nearly nine per cent

In the first 8 months of 2023, total state budget revenue is estimated to reach 1,124.5 trillion VND, equal to 69.4% of the estimate, down 8.8% compared to the same period in 2022. Domestic revenue is estimated to reach nearly 931 trillion VND, equal to 69.8% of the estimate, down 4.5% compared to the same period in 2022. Not including land use fee collection, lottery collection, capital recovery, dividend collection, profit after tax and difference in revenue and expenditure of the State Bank, domestic tax and fee revenue is estimated at 69.6% of the estimate, down 0.3% over the same period.

The Ministry of Finance's report shows that by the end of August, 9/12 domestic revenues met the estimated progress. In particular, a positive signal is that direct revenues from production and business activities are estimated to reach 70.3% of the estimate, up 4.7% over the same period. Specifically, revenue from the state-owned enterprise sector reached 74.7% of the estimate, up 6.1%. Revenue from FDI enterprises reached 66.7% of the estimate, up 2.6%, and revenue from the non-state economic enterprise sector reached 70.7%, an increase of 5.3% over the same period in 2022. However, the Ministry of Finance also noted that, excluding corporate income tax, the achievement was quite good compared to the estimate and increased by 23.4% over the same period because the enterprise has temporarily paid 4/5 periods as prescribed, the revenue from production and business activities is only 91.6% of the same period. In the first 8 months of the year, revenue from personal income tax was estimated at 70.9% of the estimate, down 7.8% over the same period.

Some positive signals come from the revenue from mineral exploitation rights, with the estimated revenue reaching 94.9% of the estimate, up 4% over the same period. In addition, capital recovery, dividends, profits, profit after tax, and the difference in revenue and expenditure of the State Bank reached 118.8% of the estimate, an increase of 75.5% over the same period. The reason for the increase in capital recovery, dividends, profits, profit after tax, and the difference in revenue and expenditure of the State Bank is due to the difference in revenue and expenditure that the State Bank has paid to the State budget arising in the fourth quarter of 2022, the difference in settlement in 2022 and the amount arising in the first 2 quarters of 2023 is 28.9 trillion VND, an increase of 24.9 trillion VND compared to the estimate.

According to the Ministry of Finance, in the first 8 months of the year, 3 domestic revenues did not meet the estimated progress: environmental protection tax collection (down 32.3% over the same period); taxes, fees (down 12.2% over the same period); Real estate revenues (estimated to decrease by 54.2% over the same period), the reason for the decrease in real estate revenues is that the real estate market is slow to recover, auction work, granting land use rights in many local projects cannot deploy, or can deploy, but no investor wins the auction.

According to Director General of the General Department of Taxation Mai Xuan Thanh, as of September 5, 2023, total budget revenue managed by the Tax industry reached 973 trillion VND, equal to 70.9% of the estimate. Confirming that the basic revenue progress is closely following the estimate, the head of the Tax sector also said that there have been signs of revenue reduction. This is shown by the fact that in January 2023, budget revenue will reach 94 trillion VND. By August 2023, this number will be 75 trillion VND. This decrease forecasts that budget revenue will still have many risks. "In this context, the General Department of Taxation and local departments have discussed many solutions to carry out collection work, reviewing potential revenue sources and periodically evaluating them to ensure the implementation of assigned budget collection tasks in 2023", Mr Mai Xuan Thanh emphasized.

Economic growth is low, key industrial production is declining

Faced with difficulties affecting revenue sources recently, the Tax sector has strengthened revenue management, inspection, and review of revenue sources, combated revenue loss, and strived to increase revenue in various fields. The area has conditions to compensate for revenue reduction due to the implementation of support policies. At the same time, promote VAT refunds based on strict control, ensure compliance with policies and legal regulations, and enforce tax debt collection according to regulations. As of August 15, 2023, the Tax Agency has carried out 35.6 thousand inspections and tests and inspected 367.4 thousand tax declarations of businesses, recommending financial settlement of about 37 trillion VND. Of which, the state budget collection is about 9.6 trillion VND (already paid into the budget about 6.8 trillion VND), deduction and loss reduction are nearly 27.4 trillion VND, Urging the recovery and handling of outstanding tax debt, estimated to reach about 30.1 trillion VND by the end of August.

In addition to the decrease in domestic revenue, crude oil and import-export revenue also decreased. Accordingly, revenue from crude oil in 8 months is estimated at 39.7 trillion VND, equal to 94.6% of the estimate, down 25.1% compared to the same period in 2022. Balanced revenue from import-export activities is estimated at 153.6 trillion VND, equal to 64.3% of the estimate, down 23.2% over the same period in 2022. The decrease in revenue from the balance of import-export activities comes from the decrease in import-export activities in 8 months compared to the same period. Director General of the General Department of Customs Nguyen Van Can said that the State budget revenue of the Customs sector in 8 months is consistent with the context of the country's decreasing import-export turnover.

The Ministry of Finance's report shows that the total import-export turnover as of August 15 only reached more than 402 billion USD, down 13.4%, of which the import-export turnover of taxable goods decreased by 19.9% over the same period. Imported products that contribute a large amount of revenue to the budget have decreased sharply, which has had an impact on reducing state budget revenue in this field, including petroleum (down 6.1%), plastic materials (down 30.9 %), chemicals (down 31.8%), iron and steel (down 30.3%), phones and components (down 22.1%), machinery, equipment, tools and spare parts (down 19, 6%), computers and electronic products (down 36.3%), auto components and spare parts (down 35%), etc. As of August 15, the Customs agency has carried out approximately 1.3 thousand inspections, tests and handling, bringing 671 billion VND into the state budget. The Customs agency also closely coordinated with functional forces to fight against smuggling, trade fraud and counterfeit goods, seizing 11.3 thousand violations with a goods value of 4.4 trillion VND, processing revenue into the state budget of 363 billion VND.

According to the general assessment, budget revenue in the first 8 months of the year is still declining due to low economic growth in the first months of the year. Production and business activities of some key industries declined sharply. The real estate market is slow to recover, and the export market is difficult. Implementing newly issued policies on exemption, reduction, and extension of taxes, fees, charges, and land rent reduces budget revenue. In August, the Tax and Customs authorities continued to implement policies to exempt, reduce, and extend taxes, fees, charges, and land rent to support businesses and people. The total amount of money exempted, reduced, or extended is estimated to be about 124.8 trillion VND by the end of August, of which exemption or reduction is about 42.3 trillion VND; extension of about 82.5 trillion VND.

From now until the end of the year, the entire Finance sector will make efforts to review potential revenue sources, strengthen the prevention of revenue loss, and actively support businesses in production and business to strive to achieve the set budget collection goals.