Move to rewrite tax code underway

The meeting drew government officials, representatives from political parties and businesspeople.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who chairs the Lower House’s Rule of Law,Peace and Stability Committee, said the country needed to develop a reliable taxation system.

Representatives of economic associations said tax should be affordable and not burdensome. The gap between the rates charged average citizens and businesspeople who received tax exemptions should be closed, they said.

Lower House Speaker Thura Shwe Mann called for a list to be compiled of businesspeople who received tax exemptions. The list should be reviewed by Parliament, he said.

Shwe Mann said yesterday’s meeting would help Parliament move on a tax law during its next session.

Suu Kyi stressed that it was critical to fix an appropriate tax rate and that a culture of tax collection and payment needed to be established.

 

Yangon to get two more flyovers

Construction will begin on two more flyovers in Yangon at the end of this year, an official from the Yangon City Development Committee said. Si Thu Lwin, deputy head of the committee’s roads and bridges department, said the flyovers would be built at Eight Mile and Myay Ni Gone junctions. He said their intention was to reduce traffic jams. “We plan to start construction [of the new flyovers] at the end of this year and will select a suitable and experienced company for constructing them,” Si Thu Lwin said.

When informed about the plan, city motorists said they hoped an experienced company had been hired to build them because if another inexperienced company was selected it would exacerbate traffic congestion during construction. 

 

Soccer teams gear up for SEA Games

Members of the men’s and women’s football teams will be sent overseas for training before December’s SEA Games, the Myanmar Football Federation said. The men’s under-23 team will get training in Japan or South Korea, while the women’s team will receive training in Japan, the federation said. The men’s under-23 team is coached by Korean Park Sung-wha and the women’s team is coached by Japan’s Kumada Yoshinori. The women’s team will also participate in the Asian Cup qualifier and the Asean Women’s Championship before the SEA games, which will be hosted in Myanmar, and the men’s team will participate in invitational competitions here.

 

Illegal orchid trade worth $30m a year

The illegal export of rare orchids to China is worth about US$30 million (Bt870 milllion) a year, according to an executive member of the Myanmar Horticulturalists Association. Saw Lwin also said the trade thrived in Northern Shan State and that if it could bring revenue to the government if it was made legal. There are more than 20 orchid species used in herbal medicine, more than 10 of which are illegally exported to China to make health tonics and anti-cancer medicines, he said.