Will taxes make up for Budget Shortfalls?The government’s budget amendments to the taxation law have angered the public. The government has taken the position that increasing taxes will generate a significant percentage of the financing required for the state budget.
Recently, Members of Parliament and other high-ranking government authorities have discussed the effectiveness of downsizing ministries and agencies and trimming ineffective costs. But in a reality, they did not pursue what they discussed and they are attempting to empty citizens’ pockets instead.
In particular, over 186 staff will be laid off under the proposed staff reductions. But starting with the government and province governor’s offices, the authorities are violating the government’s resolution and keeping their staff in their positions to work without pay.
Property taxes include apartment tax, vehicle tax, gun tax, and livestock tax. The majority of Parliament supported a discussion of a three-fold increase to the taxes for a Toyota Prius. Consequently, Toyota Prius owners are now obliged to pay annually 108,000 MNT in vehicle tax, which was previously 36,000 MNT.
Ulaanbaatar City Administration once proposed putting weekend driving restrictions on cars with right-hand steering systems. This idea was met with the public’s objections. Now, the Toyota Prius taxation issue is being debated. This Toyota model has already become popular for purchase by median-income households, and some people prefer these vehicles for taxi services. Why are the authorities trying to empty the public’s pockets, since they already pay tolls for air pollution, driver responsibility insurance and road use charges? Will drivers accept this tax increase?
An additional clause was added to the Property Tax Law. If a citizen has more than three apartments in their name, they will pay additional taxes.
It is wrong to burden taxpayers to fix a few people’s mistakes. It seems like the parliament and government has started planning how to spend money from citizens’ pockets, rather than doing something great for the country’s development.
The City Administration was also considering a project to charge fees for access to the city’s central roads to reduce traffic congestion. Their idea was to apply fees of 50,000 MNT per month to provide drivers with access through the Western Intersection, Wrestler’s Palace, and Chinggis Hotel- Geser Temple. City administrators are expected to try to submit the project again soon. If you drive a Toyota Prius and travel through the city center, you will be obliged to spend a significant amount of money on taxes.
Countries around the world actually impose higher taxes on cars that have larger engines and less efficient fuel consumption. Also, other countries determine taxes based on their population’s salary and required living expenses. In other words, in some countries, rich people pay more in taxes. Interestingly, the changes to taxes in Mongolia will affect people who have medium or lower income.
The head of the Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer’s Rights, O.Magnai, said that people shouldn’t pay the same amount of taxes when they buy an apartment that costs over 5,000 USD per square meter and one that costs one million MNT per square meter. Residents live on a wide range of incomes. This issue needs to be discussed further, but it is not getting the public’s attention.
The general public will be in agreement that it is time to impose taxes on luxury living.
Doesn’t the government have more ideas about how to earn budget income without increasing taxes?
Source: Undesnii Shuudan
Tuesday, January 13th, 2015
Trans. by D.SERGELEN