Ho Chi Minh City’s tax agency is in need of over 3,000 staff to effectively deal with the current workload, local newswire Vietnam Net quoted an official as saying on Thursday.

“With such (a shortage in) workforce, it’s understandable that some residents are dissatisfied about the tax sector,” Tan said at a two-day meeting on progress made in administrative reforms at the city’s tax agency and justice department that wrapped up on Wednesday.

The agency’s recent survey covering the first nine months of this year showed that 90 percent of respondents were not pleased with the tax procedures. The same situation applied to the HCMC Department of Justice.

Representatives from the two agencies also complained of other difficulties, including a shortage in State funding for management software, the newswire reported.

The government is making efforts to streamline administrative procedures which have long been criticized for being time-consuming and too complicated.

At present, 5,500 administration procedures are effective at the central government, city/provincial, district and commune levels. They generate 82,786 forms and are ruled by 7,641 documents, according to figures compiled during stage one of Project No.30, which aims to simplify administrative procedures between 2007 and 2010.

Source: Thanh Nien