HO CHI MINH CITY, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City currently has accumulated tax debts of nearly 1,588 billion Vietnamese dong (71.2 million U.S. dollars), with debts surging in the last two years, the municipal Customs Department said Thursday.
Of the total tax debts, over 1,355 billion Vietnamese dong (60.7 million U.S. dollars) are considered bad debts.
Of the 71.2-million U.S. dollar tax debts, nearly half are from businesspeople who have either fled or gone missing. Other big tax debtors include those who have had their enterprises dissolved and those who have been prosecuted or are under investigation now.
Over the past two years, the tax debts increased considerably from over 28 billion Vietnamese dong (1.2 million U.S. dollars) in 2014 to 45 billion Vietnamese dong (2 million U.S. dollars) in 2015, and 58.6 billion Vietnamese dong (2.6 million U.S. dollars) in the first eight months of 2016.
It is impossible for Ho Chi Minh City to collect nearly half of the total tax debts turning up from July 2007 to June 2013, the department said, noting that it will propose the General Department of Vietnam Customs write off bad tax debts.
