Urgent capital needs for projects of the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs

At the meeting on January 5, the 2nd Extraordinary Session, the XV National Assembly, authorized by the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc, presented a report on adjusting the on-landing capital plan of localities in 2022, supplementing estimates of recurrent expenditures in 2021 from non-refundable aid from foreign countries and adjusting unused budget estimates for 2021 of the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc presented the report at the National Assembly. Photo: Quochoi.vn

Need capital to modernize state budget revenue management

Accordingly, regarding the adjustment of the on-landing capital plan in 2022 localities, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc said that during the implementation process, by August 31, 2022, 14 localities proposed adjustment of the on-lending capital estimate, 01 localities proposed to repay the loan before the due date, leading to a change in the loan and repayment level of each locality compared to the level decided by the National Assembly.

Specifically: 7 localities proposed to increase the on-lending estimate with a comprehensive proposal of 226 billion dongs, 7 proposed to reduce the on-lending estimate with a total of nearly 1,548 billion dongs; 1 locality that proposed to repay the loan early was Bac Kan with VND 33.7 billion.

The Minister of Finance said that because the total on-lending estimates by localities were not used up and the number of requests for early repayment was more significant than the number of requests for an on-lending increase of localities, so the adjustment of the loan amount and repayment of debt in 2022 of the above localities does not increase the total borrowing and overspending of the local budget compared to the limit approved by the National Assembly.

On the principle of ensuring that the total overspending of the local budget does not increase, and at the same time, the outstanding debt of each locality is within the limit prescribed by the Law on the State Budget (State Budget), to create conditions for localities to use maximize source of additional central budget capital with targets for localities in 2022, the Government submitted to the National Assembly: increasing the estimate of re-borrowing from the Government's foreign loans in 2022 of 7 localities; approved for 7 localities to reduce their on-lending capital estimates in 2022 to ensure that the foreign loan on-lending plan and the 2022 overspending level do not exceed the level approved by the National Assembly.

Regarding the content of supplementing the state budget recurrent expenditure estimate in 2021 from foreign grants, the Government submitted to the National Assembly: Supplementing the state budget estimate of aid collection and the estimate of recurrent expenditure in 2021 of non-refundable aid (recurring expenditures), including an additional estimate for the Covid-19 epidemic prevention and control aid; additional funding for other grants. At the same time, the Government was assigned to direct ministries, central agencies and localities to coordinate with the State Audit to review data to make the 2021 state budget finalization according to regulations.

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly Nguyen Phu Cuong presented the verification report.

Regarding the adjustment of the budget estimate to ensure the new operation in 2021 of the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phuc said that these two agencies are allowed to implement the financial and staffing management mechanism according to regulations: the rate of allocation of presumptive funds for construction investment spending, at least 10%. But in fact, the investment capital allocated in the period 2016-2020 for the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs is not guaranteed and according to the prescribed rate, so the construction investment projects of these two agencies do not have implementation resources, affecting the organization and implementation of tasks, especially the requirement to modernize the management of state budget revenue.

"Currently, the capital needed to arrange for completed, transitional, necessary, and urgent projects of the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs in 2021-2025 is huge. The capital need for completed and transitional projects is about VND 2,000 billion," said the Minister of Finance.

Therefore, the Government submitted to the National Assembly: reducing the recurrent expenditure estimate in 2021 of the Ministry of Finance by 2,268.3 billion VND (of which the General Department of Taxation is 1,134.8 billion VND, the General Department of Customs is 1,133.5 billion VND) and correspondingly increasing the investment and development expenditure estimate for 2021 of the Ministry of Finance (in which, the General Department of Taxation is 1,134.8 billion VND, the General Department of Customs is 1,133.5 billion VND). Simultaneously, it is allowed to transfer this funding source to 2023 to implement investment in 95 projects of the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs; the disbursement period is until December 31, 2024.

The Government also proposed the National Assembly to assign the Government to allocate capital, and direct the implementation of projects following the provisions of the Law on Public Investment, the Law on the State Budget and relevant laws; summarize in the report on the implementation of the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period and submit it to the National Assembly at the end of the medium-term public investment plan period 2021-2025.

Need to speed up disbursement, ensure efficiency

Presenting the verification report, Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee of the National Assembly Nguyen Phu Cuong said that the Finance and Budget Committee agreed with the need to adjust the loan plan in 2022 of the local authorities, supplementing estimates of recurrent expenditures in 2021 with foreign grants and adjusting unused budget estimates for 2021 by the General Department of Taxation and the General Department of Customs to handle problems in practice, following the provisions of the State Budget Law.

The Finance and Budget Committee proposed that the Government take responsibility for ensuring that public investment projects are using this capital for the proper purposes, with complete procedures as prescribed by Law, speeding up the disbursement progress and ensuring actual performance.

Regarding the addition of the state budget estimate of foreign grants (recurrent expenditures) in 2021, the Finance and Budget Committee proposed to the National Assembly to request the Government to review and agree on the data with the State Audit before proposing to supplement the estimate of revenues and expenditures of non-refundable aid (recurring expenditures) and take responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the data.

Regarding the adjustment of the on-lending capital plans in 2022 localities, Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee Nguyen Phu Cuong emphasized that the Finance and Budget Committee proposed the Government continue to review the increasing and reducing adjusted data of the state budget estimate in 2022 and take responsibility for the data, ensure that the total overspending of the local budget does not increase, the outstanding debt of each locality is within the limit prescribed by the State Budget Law; ensure the effective use of capital and the time limit for disbursement of the capital amount adjusted to increase the estimate in 2022 of localities following regulations.