Facing imminent threats of closure and legal action over a disputed $6.3 million tax bill, The Cambodia Daily will cease operations as of today, bringing to a close more than 24 years of independent journalism. “The power to tax is the power to destroy. And after 24 years and 15 days, the Cambodian government has destroyed The Cambodia Daily, a special and singular part Cambodia’s free press,” said the Daily’s owner Deborah Krisher- Steele.

The announcement came exactly one month after a docu- ment from the General Depart- ment of Taxation was leaked online, giving the Daily until today to pay the tax bill, and

less than two weeks after Prime Minister Hun Sen described the publishers as “thieves” and told them to either pay the tax or “pack up and go.” The Daily has insisted that the tax dispute is politically motivated, calling for a proper audit and good faith negotia- tions. Meetings between the newspaper’s management and tax officials, however, have

failed to bridge the impasse. “In an ordinary process, matters in dispute would be resolved after an audit and private negotiations,” Ms. Krisher-Steele said. “Instead, the Daily has been targeted for an astronomical tax assessment, leaks and false statements by the tax department and pub- lic vilification by the head of government before an audit, much less a legal proceeding.” The government has ramped up its rhetoric against the Daily in response to claims of political motivation from the publishers and a social media campaign using the hashtag #savethedaily. A week after the August 22 speech by Mr. Hun Sen, a fre- quent reader of the Daily, the tax department issued a state- ment accusing the newspaper’s management of illicitly pocketing value added tax. “The Cambodia Daily newspaper… has committed tax evasion for years by not paying even one riel in tax,” it said.