The telecommunications and information technology sectors have been the leading corporate taxpayers on a list of 1,000 leading corporations, accounting for 18 percent of total tax payments this year. According to the V1000 profile, released on October 14 by the Vietnam Report Company (VNR) in cooperation with the General Department of Taxation, total corporate tax of the enterprises reached 82.3 trillion VND (3.65 billion USD), posting an increase of 2.34 percent from last year and accounting for 10 percent of the total State budget. Of these, the top 100 corporate taxpayers contributed 50 trillion VND (2.2 billion USD) to the State budget and accounted for more than 60 percent of the total 1,000 businesses. The financial sector took second place with 76 enterprises contributing 14 percent to the total. The food, beverage and tobacco had the highest number in the list with 110 businesses. However, the sector's tax contribution to the V1000 was only 11 percent of the total. VNR said 229 State-owned enterprises contributed 45 percent of the total tax payment, representing 21 percent year-on-year decrease. Notably, the foreign direct investment (FDI) sector had the highest number of 460 enterprises. However, the sector's contribution to the State budget was 37 percent. Private companies made up 18 percent of the total tax payers. "The figures have shown a paradox as the FDI sector has accounted for a high portion of the economy, while the private sector has been considered the key economic component," the report said. Hanoi and HCM City continued to take the lead in the number of businesses on the list. HCM City had 338 firms while in Hanoi had 226. However, the tax payment in Hanoi was higher than HCM City with the rates of 37 percent and 33 percent, respectively. Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces followed with 97 companies and 78 companies, respectively. The report also revealed that businesses were not pleased with the tax system and urged further improvements. According to the report, up to 61 percent of businesses expected more changes in the current regulations. Businesses still faced difficulties in tax policies (33 percent), complicated administrative procedures (13 percent), investigation and check-ups process (12 percent), and issues relating to online tax payment (11 percent). The report also conducted a survey on the sentiment of businesses on TPP's results. It showed that 49 percent of the surveyed firms were excited to benefit from the agreement. However, 42 percent of the businesses believed that they would not be affected from the TPP while 9 percent had a negative view of the agreement.-VNA