PM targets private school pay

Monday, 14 March 2011
Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed today to private educational institutions operating in Cambodia to pay taxes on teacher salaries after reports that many such facilities have sought exemption status.

“[Tax] is an obligation, and it is not only in our country. Many other countries have to pay higher tax on salary than us, and I think that many institutions of education have requested exemptions,” Hun Sen said during an address to graduating students at the Institute of National Education in Phnom Penh.

Cambodia’s Taxation Law implemented in 1994 stipulates that employees earning more than 500,000 riel (about US$125) per month must pay salary tax, said Cheam Yeap, senior lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

Police Stop Protesters on Way to Capital

Suon Kanika, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 September 2007

Police stopped buses carrying hundreds of villagers who planned a demonstration in Phnom Penh Friday, witnesses said.

The villagers planned to protest the closure of a public road in Kandal province, but police stopped their buses from entering the city.

The road is subject to illegal checkpoints that line the pockets of corrupt military authorities in cahoots with an orchard owner and merchant, villagers told VOA Khmer.

"I am telling you, we left our homes, and the police with connection to [informal tax-collection] stopped me from going forward," village representative Soth Seng told said. "They stopped all four buses, citing checking driver licenses, car registrations, road tax certificates as reasons."

A villager named Nhanh said locals had used the public road since the time of their "ancestors," but a merchant who bought the orchard closed it.

"It is they who destroy things, mowing down the fences and closing the road. They closed the road day and night, and the villagers could not see their way," Nhanh said. "We came to ask for the court to help solve the problem for my village people."

Chan Saveth, a human rights investigator for Adhoc, said authorities must have public order, he appealed to the people to respect the regulations. He did acknowledge, however, that sending just a few representatives would mean the villagers's woes would go unheard.