HCM City’s revenues last year grew by 8.6 per cent to VND378.54 trillion (US$16.3 billion), according to the Department of Finance.

The city, which gets a portion of its revenues allocated to it by the Government, spent VND72.63 trillion, up almost a fifth from the previous year, with VND30.79 trillion being spent on socio-economic infrastructure.

Huynh Thi Thanh Hien, deputy director of the city Department of Finance, told a review meeting where the figures were tabled that despite facing many challenges such as falling import tariffs due to free trade agreements and difficulties faced by local enterprises, her department and other relevant ones had managed to meet the revenue target set by the Government, which was 17.5 per cent higher than in 2017.

They would try their best to accomplish the revenue targets in 2019 too, she promised.

Her department would co-ordinate with others such as customs, tax and treasury to intensify tax inspection, strictly deal with tax payment delays and evasion, and abuse of transfer pricing, she said.

It would also help businesses resolve difficulties related to tax and other issues, she said.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, chairman of the People’s Committee, appreciated the efforts made by the finance department to fulfill the city’s revenue targets.

This year the city has been set a target of VND399.1 trillion ($17.17 billion), or 26.3 per cent of the country’s total revenues, he said.

The target for domestic collection is VND272.32 trillion, an increase of 16.4 per cent, he said.

“These targets are too high. This means the city must collect VND1.53 trillion ($65.8 million) every day. This is a difficult task.”

Therefore, relevant departments and agencies should focus on key solutions to achieve the targets, he said.

He said the finance department should strengthen measures to ensure full and timely collection in accordance with the law, enhance collection of land use rights when selling State-owned properties, strictly control spending, and speed up equitisation of Stated-owned companies.

Together with tax, customs and treasury agencies it should also focus on administrative reform and improving human resources to increase transparency to foster businesses, he suggested.

He called on it to ensure businesses scrupulously use e-invoices to avoid tax evasion and create a culture of paying taxes among household businesses. — VNS