Photo: Messenger
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir presented recommendations to find alternative ways to increase VAT and tax at a press conference The interim government has hastily increased VAT and supplementary duties on more than 100 goods and services, imposed new ones and lifted tax exemptions for some goods.
Various quarters are discussing and criticizing the government's decision. Along with economic analysts, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP is also concerned that this decision will create a crisis in various areas.
BNP has called for the immediate withdrawal of the increased VAT and tax and the government to reduce expenses. It has also said that the government can find 12 sources and ways to increase revenue.
At a press conference at the BNP Chairperson's political office in Gulshan on Saturday (January 18), the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir spoke about the issue of increasing VAT and tax.
He presented these recommendations. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that it is possible to save a huge amount of money by temporarily stopping the money allocated against unnecessary and corrupt mega projects.
The fallen government had allocated Tk 40,000 crore in the current budget for capacity charges for quick rental power generation, which amounted to Tk 32,000 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal year. Even though the term has expired, their term has been extended year after year for their own interests.
Loot has been going on in these power plants in the name of capacity charges for years. In the last 14 years, about Tk 1,25,000 crore has been looted in these power plants. The investigation by the White Paper Committee has revealed that 40 percent of the development budget was looted during the previous fascist government.
• In the case of direct taxes, more attention can be paid to tax collection by increasing the income tax rate in the highest slab and increasing the surcharge or wealth tax. It is also necessary to pay attention to increasing income in the non-tax and non-revenue sectors. Instead of increasing the VAT rate, the scope of VAT can be expanded. [Non-taxes such as narcotics and liquor duty, motor vehicle taxes, non-judicial stamps etc. and non-revenue sectors such as dividends and profits, interest, administrative fees, service fees, leases, tolls etc.
• The government can take effective steps to ensure return submission and tax collection by TIN number holders. This will help in increasing the coverage of income tax and increasing the efficiency of tax collection.
• Bringing taxable income under the ambit of tax can be an important step for the government. Through this, it will be possible to prevent tax evasion and increase revenue. It will also help in making the tax system more transparent and streamlined, which will help in maintaining the economic stability of the country and increasing government revenue.
• Utilizing the assets of corrupt persons, which have been seized or accounts frozen, in legal manner can be an effective step for the government. Moreover, by identifying the unused and unnecessary funds in the government sectors, proper and legal use of those idle funds can be ensured.
• At this moment, making strong efforts to recover black money, making arrangements to recover looted money from banks and non-performing loans will be a very important step. According to the current government's white paper, it is now very important to make maximum efforts to recover about 234 billion dollars or about Tk 28 lakh crore of corruption and loot.
• After the departure of AL, everyone is hoping that the international community will come forward to provide economic assistance to Bangladesh due to the international image of the current interim head of government. In this context, it can be asked to relax the tough conditions given to them to get a loan from the IMF. Because it is being said that taxes have been imposed to fulfill the conditions of the IMF. Moreover, the government will also have to be more proactive in releasing the grant/loan money announced by donor countries and donor agencies.
• During Awami League government, many powerful individuals and institutions were unfairly given tax exemptions (corporate tax rebates). Many of them chose this unfair path and evaded taxes immorally. The interim government could have increased direct taxes by closing the path of this unfairness and financial irregularities. As a result, on the one hand, the government's revenue would have increased, and on the other hand, destructive decisions like tax imposition could have been avoided.
• The previous government increased the burden of defaulted loans by providing various unethical benefits to large loan defaulters. By rescheduling the repayment of large loans by cashing only two percent, they have cleared the list of defaulters.
• It is not possible to increase the government's internal revenue by keeping the current structure of the NBR intact, and in the last 15 years, the fascist looting group and their oligarch allies have collected revenue by imposing higher indirect taxes on the common people than income taxes on the wealthy class as part of looting the people's wealth. The corrupt Motiurs of the goat case have played a supporting role in this work as direct and indirect allies. Needless to say, as a result, extreme economic inequality has increased in the society.
• More emphasis should be placed on agriculture, one of the main sources of the economy. In the production of daily agricultural products, i.e. vegetables, all waste lands starting from the courtyard of the house have to be used. At the press conference, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that although it is a big challenge for the Awami League government to deal with a budget deficit of more than Tk 2.5 lakh crore in the current economic situation, the government can reduce expenditure on one hand and increase revenue on the other, at least partially solve the current budget deficit and take effective steps to address the economic crisis.
Finally, the BNP leader called for the immediate withdrawal of this unwise decision like imposing taxes and VAT, indirect taxes, on the general public.
Messenger/Tareq
