Because of the high export tax, the chamber said exports and imports are in a slump, Burmese businessmen cannot compete even in Asean markets and the production of export goods has sharply decreased.  

A businessman said: “There are two types of exports; end products and raw material. For instance, jade is a natural resource. Some people have exported uncut jade. Among timber, foreign countries know what teak is. They know the qualities of teak. I think the government should collect more taxes on natural resources. If it collects more taxes on finished products, who will want to produce end products? In fact, the government should support production of end products and exporting them.”
 
The Directorate of Revenue has not commented on the calls.
 
Recently, the authorities reduced export taxes from 10 per cent to seven per cent to give exporters some relief. Exporters said that with another decrease, the export business would start to bring in more foreign earnings.
 
Earlier exporters had to pay eight per cent in sales tax and two per cent as an income tax; now, they must pay five per cent as sales tax and two per cent as an income tax.

“In other countries, governments collect only import taxes, not export taxes. Here some exporters also import goods from foreign countries, so they need to pay taxes twice. So our products are relatively expensive. If our government adopts a suitable tax, that will make our products more competitive,” a trader said.
 
Since early June, the Burmese kyat exchange rate had decreased from more than 850 kyat to less than 800 kyat per US$ 1and exporters have suffered. As a result, export goods, especially in the fishery business, timber and clothing have dropped off and many workers lost their jobs, businessmen said.