Unnamed armed group collects unpopular tax from residents in Ye Township

June 7, 2013

HURFOM: At the end of last month, residents in Mawkanin village, Limine Sub-Township, Ye Township, Mon State were asked by members of an unnamed Mon armed group to pay a set of unexpected and allegedly unwarranted taxes.

Payments were demanded from residents living in newer settlements located just outside the main village of Mawkanin. The armed group visited every house in this area to demand money, although the payment requested varied from household to household. Even people living in small huts did not escape the tax, which is said to have ranged from at least 2,000 to 5,000 Kyat. It is reported that the group had not told residents in advance that this tax would be collected, nor had they disclosed how much each household would be taxed. Whilst some members were familiar to residents, these individuals refused to give their real names or share which group they had come from.

One plantation worker from Mawkanin said that at the end of May four people from the armed group had started collecting money from approximately 5,000 households in Mawkanin, claiming that it was a “security tax” for the armed group’s protection of the villagers. He said that areas of Mawkanin where this tax was raised included Tar Yar, Win Dein, Ywa Thint (Mawkanin ) and other new settlements.

“They did not state their group’s name, but mentioned that they were from a Mon armed group. A person leading the group said that they had come to ask for money for a security tax. People’s payment was decided based on their property. They came to our plantation and asked how many rubber trees we had. When I told them that there were 6,000 rubber trees in my plantation they asked for 5,000 Kyat.”

The group, which has been named only as a Mon armed group, has collected taxes like this four times in the past year. The plantation worker HURFOM spoke to elaborated that he was particularly dissatisfied on this occasion.

“Before, they gave us a bill for the payment, but this time they just wrote it down in their book. I am not satisfied because, not only did they not give us any paper, but also they asked for different amounts from each plantation.”

Nai Ba Aye, a 49 year old from Ywa Thint in Mawkanin, told HURFOM that he felt that villagers no longer needed the security that they were being taxed for, nor could they afford it.

“For a long time we have been asked to pay [taxes]. The groups collecting money from us are the Burmese military, Mon armed groups, village security forces and civil society groups. We pay the groups that we need to pay, but the security groups should not ask for money from us because these days we don’t need security any more. I don’t get why they are still asking for money. Besides, there are not many jobs for us; we are in a deep hole. Our family’s daily income is deeply needed, there is no extra money. Our living standard is poor compared with others’, we want the groups [raising taxes] to understand our situation.”

Nai Ba Aye explained that the residents are disappointed that they have been asked to pay out extra taxes from their savings because they are facing income difficulties; whilst investment in workers’ salaries and fertilizer still come at a high cost, the prices of betel nut and rubber have declined. Indeed it seems that for villagers in Mawkanin this deeply unpopular tax has come at a particularly bad time.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News