Fishing boats in a Mon State village are being taxed 30,000 kyat each by the Burmese Army.
 
The new tax was imposed a month ago when soldiers arrived to inform local fisherman of it. Receipts were issued to boat owners who were able to pay.
 
“They [soldiers] will take 30,000 kyat for each boat. They do not care if it is a big boat or a small boat,” a fisherman from Chaung-Wa village, Khawzar sub-township told IMNA.
 
Three weeks ago, a fisherman was beaten up by Burmese Army soldiers for not having paid the new annual tax. Afterwards, they demanded that he pay 5,000 kyat as fine.
 
“When they [soldiers] asked for the receipt, he could not show it because he had not paid till then. That’s why the soldiers beat him up. When soldiers came to inform about the boat tax, he was not in the village,” said a resident.
 
The army has never taxed boats before in Chaung-Wa village.
 
Due to the new taxes, the fisherman and fishing boat owners said their incomes had come down, with owners of smaller boats feeling the pinch because they are unable to catch as many fish as the larger boats.
 
“During the monsoons we dare not go very far from the shore. We are afraid of cyclones. So we can’t make enough money for our families,” said a local fisherman.
 
He added that the soldiers also help themselves to fish from the Chaung-Wa fisherman without paying. No one dares to refuse.
 
This new tax is a continuance of the military junta’s pervasive campaign of human rights abuses, including arbitrary taxation, documented at length by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM).