Myanmar has only collected 4 percent of GDP in tax revenue,according to Thura Thaung Lwin who is chairman of the Board of Scrutinising and Monitoring Tax Collection.
“The government and the parliament have not fulfilled their responsibilities to collect more tax,” said Thura Thaung Lwin.
“The revenue is so little and the government is weak to fulfil the requirement of the people. If the people want the government to build roads and to generate electricity, the government does not have enough money to do both at the same time,” he said.
Although Myanmar has more than 30,000 registered companies, but only about 2,000 companies paid tax. Many enterprises in the construction sector are registered under a group of companies so as to avoid paying tax.
“If the enterprises under the name of group of companies pay the tax, the revenue will be raised by twice the amount collected by now,” said the chairman referring to groups such as Htoo and Shwe Taung.
The government formed the Board of Scrutinising and Monitoring of Tax Collection with eight members led by Thura Thaung Lwin in May 2013.
The functions and duties of the board are to scrutinise whether taxes are collected properly or not, monitor the collection of tax on service, trade and production and report their findings to the Minister of Finance and Revenue.
They are also tasked with giving suggestions to ensure fiscal policy meets international standards.
source: Eleven Myanmar
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