For the first time, most citizens will pay
Having survived war and decades of poverty, Vietnamese citizens are now facing a more common scourge: income tax.
Vietnam's Ministry of Finance has announced plans to eliminate the minimum salary level, currently about US$325 a month, at which income taxes are payable.
The move means income taxes will now be payable by most of the population for the first time. Small salaries, unreported income and tax evasion means that less than 5 per cent of the workforce currently pays income tax.
The prospect of paying the taxman is proving no more popular in Vietnam than it is anywhere else - especially because of the common belief that state funds are routinely misused through corruption and waste.
'I don't want to pay a part of my money that I have to work hard for to corrupt government officials,' said one Hanoi man, a sales executive with a car company, who asked not to be named.
The Finance Ministry would not confirm the plan, saying nothing had been finalised yet.
