Ye township households must pay year’s housing tax up front

August 22, 2009

HURFOM: On July 15th, Ye township municipal chairman U Kyi Lin instituted the collection of a house tax in Ye township, Mon State.

According to reports from HURFOM field reporters, every household has to pay this tax, which is determined by the size and construction of the home. Residents will be taxed 2,800 kyat for a wooden house with a thatch roof, 3,500 kyat for wooden house with an iron roof, 7,000 kyat for a two-story house and 15,000 for a cement house.

Authorities intimated that they would prosecute villagers in the municipal courts, under a law known as 17/Ka/Kha, if they did not pay the tax. It is not clear what legal stricture the law carries, but villagers that paid the tax have been given receipts for their payment.

The Collection of large sums of money for the year based on house size and structure is different from last year’s method of taxation. According to one resident, “Last year, they [tax collectors] collected only 600 kyat per month, but for this years they decided to collect all the money for a year.”

Villagers were charged on a less distinct system of taxation, with monthly taxes of 600 to 1000 kyat for a wooden house and 1,500 kyat for a cement house.

A 60 year old Ye resident who is staying at the house of a friend that left the Ye area, said, “We are still living in this other person’s house, [even though] the authorities forced us to pay the house’s tax. They said, ‘If you can’t afford to pay, you need to leave this house.’”

Afraid that authorities will cause problems, villagers have had to follow U Kyi Lin’s demand for a yearly payment up front. A 52 year old Ye resident said, “Our family is afraid the authorities will make trouble for us. Therefore, we had to pay. For the rich people they can pay, but I think for daily workers and other poor people, they can’t afford this.

“We don’t have a way to avoid [paying]; If we don’t have [the money], we need to borrow it from neighbors,” explained one villager. “This is the only way that we can do it.”

One Ye resident estimated that, “1 in 3 people will be able to pay, but I can’t say for sure if the rest of the people can pay or not.”

Ye township municipality is divided into 13 quarters. There are approximately 800 to 1,500 households located in each quarter.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News