Levy on houses and lands should be imposed on speculators

In experts’ opinions, collecting tax on houses and land is not only an economic but also a social issue. When the country’s economy and the citizens’ livelihood have seen little improvement, applying another type of tax may cause negative reactions.

Dr. Tran Du Lich, Deputy Group Leader of HCMC National Assembly Delegation who is also an economic expert, in a talk show regarding “Draft law on house and land tax” held on 19 January at the Southern National Assembly Office, HCMC, asserted that the imposition of tax on houses may not be implemented for the time being, even in 10 more years, since the annual average income of the citizens still remains low at approximately US$1,000. The Government should collect only tax on houses from the business sector to restrict speculation, which has created a “bubble in the real estate market.

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The higher the frequency of house and land trading, the higher the tax rate for this activity

Having the same opinion, Dr. Le Net, Founding Partner of LNT & Partners Law Firm, recommended that heavy taxes should be imposed on those who buy and sell houses repeatedly. The closer the period between selling and buying, the higher the tax rate should be. For example, the Government should impose a heavy levy on the first transfer of houses or lands within 1 year (i.e., 50% of the discrepancy between selling and buying prices). The rate will be 30% for the second year’s transaction and will be reduced on a yearly basis.

If this succeeds, trading in houses and land in such a “sliding” manner will certainly be decreased. The Government may impose tax on land possession. If a land owner cannot use such land in an effective way, he/she must sell it due to an inability to pay tax imposed on it. If the land owner leases such land, the lessee will pay the relevant tax accordingly.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhu, Deputy Director of Tan Vu Minh Real Estate Company, said that: levy on houses should not be imposed on those who own only 1 house but on those having 2 or more houses to restrict speculation. Controlling housing areas and valuation for tax calculation is quite complicated. For this reason, it is better to collect taxes on land first, not on houses.

Tax rate should be based on the specific location of each house

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy, Head of the Department in charge of Law on Finance and Banking of University of Law, Ho Chi Minh City, if a tax on houses is considered a type of tax on property to be collected when the houses are in use, this will be unreasonable. This is because houses for living will depreciate over time and owners will have to spend money on repairing or re-building. To avoid complexities of collecting housing, Ms. Thuy suggested that tax calculation should not be based on housing areas but on particular location of each house.

As for houses in Vietnam in general, especially those in urban areas, the location of a house will decide its value. Therefore, imposing tax on house cannot be “founded on” the house’s size but on the house’s location. For instance, a 100-square meter house on Nguyen Hue Street (District 1, HCMC) may certainly cost a hundred times more compared to one in Binh Chanh District. Moreover, houses in District 1 can make a hundred times more profit than those in Binh Chanh District. For this reason, many experts asserted that the particular location of each house is the main factor to be considered in order for an appropriate tax rate to be applied.

Mr. Trinh Minh Tan, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, proposed another solution: tax calculation should be founded on housing size, not on number of houses owned by one person. This is because someone may have only 1 house with an area of up to thousands of square meters while someone may have up to 3 houses with total area of only less than 200 square meters.

In addition, only houses of Levels I and II should be subject to tax, whereas Levels III and IV houses should be entitled to tax exemption (since houses of Levels III and IV have yet been considered standard houses). “Many houses, especially those in urban areas, are used for living and doing business too; therefore, these houses cannot be listed as houses for business because they may be used as a store in the day and a normal house at night,” said Mr. Tan.