Addressing tax evasion

The tax authority is planning to strengthen tax regulations on wealthy professionals such as medical doctors and lawyers.

The authority is saying it will impose a fine on those who don’t issue records like credit card receipts, tax accounts and similar documents to their clients.

The authority will reward those who report businesses that don’t issue records to their clients, similar to the way it rewards those who report cases of tax evasion.

The government’s general plan seems to be a practical one.

It is true that there have been many cases in which professionals and businesses evade taxes, but there has been very little reporting on the matter.

It has simply been an open secret.

The tax authority has cracked down and reported cases of tax evasion from time to time.

For example, it has done so when there was a lack of tax revenue or when it needed to try to appeal to the public.

Random crackdowns like these are not the solution. They do nothing to prevent tax evasion in the long term.

This is why it has been difficult to bring an end to tax evasion by wealthy professionals.

The new plan differentiates itself from previous ones in the sense that it has strengthened institutional regulations to facilitate reporting on tax evasion cases.

The government is planning to require that professionals submit their income records and is also planning to reward people who report medical doctors or lawyers that give cash discounts to their patients and clients.

This is a fresh approach to the tax evasion issue.

The government is hoping that incentives such as these will increase reporting on tax evasion cases.

We believe a tax deduction for individuals reporting credit card expenses and cash receipts will contribute to exposing the hidden income in business.

The problem here, though, is to what extent any of this will be carried out.

As the saying goes, an ounce of practice is worth a pound of theory.

If the authority’s plans fizzle out as before, public distrust toward the government is bound to increase.

To prevent this, we would hope that the bill revising the current tax law will be passed in the National Assembly’s general session.