Vietnam ranks 38th out of 164 countries in terms of tax progressivity in the Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index 2024 released by the Oxfam International and the Development Finance International on October 21.

The index ranks 164 governments across three pillars of public services, tax, and workers' rights - policies central to reducing inequality.

Regarding public services spending and labor rights and wages, Vietnam ranks 103th and 120th respectively.

Vietnam gained improvements in building and implementing some policies, particularly State budget spending on education and its policy of reducing value-added tax (VAT), according to the report.

Overall, Vietnam ranked 94 out of 164 countries in this year’s CRI ranking.

This year’s edition shows that, for the first time since the Index began in 2017, the majority of countries are backsliding across all the three critical areas.

Overall, 84% of countries have cut investment in education, health and social protection, 81% weakened their tax systems’ ability to reduce inequality, and in 90% of them, labor rights and minimum wages have worsened.