Tax-evasion agencies mustn't go unscathed

A total of 1.34 billion yuan ($210 million) is the amount tax authorities have ordered livestreamer Huang Wei, popularly known as Viya, to pay as taxes and fines for tax evasion.

Livestreamers being fined for tax evasion is not unheard of, but it is the staggering amount that is creating waves. Many were astonished that a livestreamer could make that much money. But that should come as no surprise given that the size of the domestic livestreaming commerce market reached 1.2 trillion yuan this year, and is expected to reach 4.9 trillion yuan in 2023.

Also, Viya is not just another livestreamer. She is a celebrity in her field, known as the "queen of e-commerce" and has been rewarded for her charity work and poverty-relief contributions in the past.

During this year's Singles Day online sales gala on Nov 11, at one point of time some 200 million people were watching her livestream, leading to 8.5 billion yuan in sales that day.

The huge amounts that Viya and other livestreamers make is because of the success of the e-commerce industry thanks to the healthy economic growth of China.

So the livestreamers should, at least, fulfill their legal obligation of paying taxes, and give back to society by donating to charity and/or contributing to a cause.

Viya has been fined and has apologized for evading taxes.

However, an open letter written by Viya's husband shows the couple had hired an "agency", which claims to help people to legally evade taxes, to manage her accounts. But some reports say the "agency" specializes in illegal tax evasion.

Which calls for a probe in order to unearth such illegal "agencies" and reveal how many other rich and famous people they have helped to evade taxes and penalize such "agencies" and tax evaders according to law.