The head of the Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC) trade union spoke on Wednesday (3 January) regarding the increase of personal income tax which came into effect starting from 1 January, 2018. The Mongolian government decided to increase income taxes of those individuals with a monthly salary of more than MNT1.5 million. The increase will be progressive from 15, 20 and 25 percent. The trade unions at the mining companies are opposing the decision to increase personal income tax in order to plug the budget deficit.

A total of 64,000 people work in the Mongolian mining sector, of whom 6000 are employed at EMC. Under the new tax regulation, mining employees must pay between MNT 65,000-100,000 in income tax.

EMC trade union boss P.Battur also explained that the government also must impose more equitable taxes on the mining companies themselves. EMC currently pays 16-18 percent taxes for mineral extraction, whilst the copper and gold giant Oyu Tolgoi regularly pays 5 percent and other gold mining companies pay only 2.5 percent.