PHNOM PENH: While speaking to a group of nearly 20,000 factory workers in Phnom Penh, Prime Minister Hun Manet stressed the importance of relying on professional analysis to solve the nation’s problems. He said that while he receives and reviews all of the information, his politics require his direct interventions to coordinate with the reviews of professional analysis.

At the gathering on October 3, the Prime Minister said that he stayed up until midnight following the news and challenges of his people. He said he had ordered professional units to review, explain and interpret the issues so that he could review them himself and intervene when necessary.

"Even if I do not attend in person, I will follow up until the relevant authorities get it done," he said.

The PM said that he has already done a lot of work related to taxes, plagiarism, and protests in the provinces, all of which he allowed professional institutions to review and explain to the public.

Taxes have been a hot topic for Cambodians recently, especially after the tax department said that a 20% capital gains tax would go into effect in 2024. The PM addressed the controversy after social media debates sparked on whether or not the government was taking too much money from a population that is already struggling with global inflation.

The PM said that he is meeting with business experts to discuss taxes and their effects in November. He promised that his administration will not create new taxes nor raise existing ones. The capital gains tax remains in a grey area as the increase was approved in 2020, but suspended due to Covid-19.

He added that currently the government does not collect property tax from farms worth less than $25,000, nor does it take stamp duty tax for property transfers of under $70,000. Cambodia does not have a road tax either.

"In addition to not creating any new [taxes] and not raising existing ones, the state is committed to what we did not collect and continue not to collect," he said.