The General Department of Taxation (GDT) office. Hong Menea
The government collected almost 28 per cent more tax revenue in the first 11 months of this year than in the same period last year, the General Department of Taxation (GDT) said on Monday.
The GDT collected some $2.63 billion in tax revenue from January to November, accounting for 115 per cent of the government target for this year – an increase of 27.68 per cent compared with the $570 million collected during the same period last year.
GDT director-general Kong Vibol said his department had implemented effective measures in managing tax revenue collection to ensure revenue was collected efficiently. These included updating information on companies and property, enforcing tax declarations, introducing the e-VAT System and promoting a culture of paying tax.
Vibol stressed it was important that the GDT continued to implement rigorous and effective policies in line with government reforms to ensure tax is collected and managed efficiently.
Transparency International Cambodia executive director Preap Kol echoed Vibol, telling The Post on Tuesday that “tax reforms over the last three years have yielded encouraging results for Cambodia”.
“[The increase is] obviously the result of reduced corruption among tax and customs agents, and due to more accountable and transparent tax collection policies and strategies.
“Cambodia will collect even greater income from taxes when all businesses owned or supported by the powerful fully pay their taxes,” Kol said.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said last week that the revenue generated by the General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia had contributed significantly to the Kingdom’s economic growth.
Hun Sen said that as of November 9, revenue collected by the department had reached $4.54 billion, exceeding the government target set last year.
“The revenue collection target for the [General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia] was $2.26 billion for this year, but we have already collected some $3.01 billion, which is $758 million more or a 33.5 per cent increase.
“The revenue collected by the department was anticipated to be $2.29 billion, but we have now collected some $2.63 billion, which has exceeded the target by $345 million,” he said.
