It goes against market rules that foreign service providers in the Vietnamese digital advertising market do not comply with Vietnamese laws, Hung said at the National Forum on Developing Vietnam Technology Companies on May 9.

It’s unfair that foreign firms which earn up to 70% of advertising revenues on digital space paying no taxes whereas Vietnamese peers are closely following the market rules, Hung said, adding that this situation should not last longer.

Concerning the tax payment of foreign tech companies working in Vietnam, the Vietnamese government has considered imposing tax on ads posted on Facebook and Google but the issue remains on debate.

The situation that Facebook and Google have been gaining revenue in many and pay little or no tax is not only in Vietnam but also in some other Southeast Asian countries.

Malaysia is the latest country to mull a draft law to tax Google and Facebook advertisements with an aim to combat “fake news” and protect local firms which are facing declining revenue on traditional media outlets, according to Techwireasia.

Meanwhile, the European Union has proposed taxing tech giants between 1% and 5% of revenue based on where users are located, according to a draft Commision document seen by Reuters in 2018.

Techwireasia reported that Facebook and Google currently pay a 5% value-added tax and a 5% corporate income tax on any revenue generated from their operations in Vietnam.

The payments usually come from Vietnamese companies who make ads on Google and Facebook and the two tech giants refuse to foot the bill.