The government has moved to improve collection from non-tax revenue (NTR) sources, as this sector’s revenue collection witnessed a recent downtrend.
According to an official document, the NTR’s collection in the 2023-24 fiscal year was Tk 49,000 crore, while the actual target was Tk 50,000 crore.
In the current 2024-25 fiscal the target has been fixed at Tk 46,000 crore which is 6.1 per cent less than the previous year, reports UNB.
The targets for the 2025-26 fiscal and 2026-27 fiscal years have been set at Tk 47,000 crore and Tk 48,000 crore, respectively.
According to a Finance Ministry document, the government has taken the initiative to set up an online database of all NTR items, including the fees, charges, or prices and their dates of imposition.
This database has already been shifted to a live server to kick off piloting in 6 ministries. Based on the outcome of the piloting, the database will be open for operation. There is a plan to link it with real-time data through iBAS++.
There are thousands of public services against which the government levies fees or charges, but there is no complete listing of such fees and how many years ago those fees were fixed.
This database has opened the scope of rationalising the fees/charges and increasing NTR income manifolds from administrative fees.
The document said that the government is not only focusing on enhanced revenue mobilization from NTR by raising fees or charges, but also putting its best effort to ensure efficient and satisfactory service delivery.
The government has taken numerous initiatives to make service delivery systems paperless and to minimise human deployment in this system. This is one of the key features of building Smart Bangladesh by 2041.
The government has multiplied public investment during the last one and half decades, during which the SOEs/Autonomous Bodies (ABs) have enjoyed financial support either in the form of loans or equities.
Loans are registered under government accounts through Subsidiary Loan Agreements (SLAs) and thereby interest is charged.
However, there is no consolidated database for equity investments of the government and therefore there is no precise estimate for dividend income.
The government has taken the initiative to create an exhaustive database for equity investments in the SOEs/ABs.
In the meantime, the Government has established a Financial Reporting Council for setting standard financial statements to ensure proper assessment of these organisations.
With the economic advancement of the country, the scope and volumes of public services have evolved and expanded.
Government organisations are engaged in delivering various new services in new forms to the public.
The government has taken initiatives to explore such novel and voluminous services against which fees/charges may be collected through organising stakeholders’ consultation workshops, seminars, conferences, training etc.
The recommendations of these workshops and conferences are sent to the concerned authority to take initiatives to update service fees, introduce more online services as well as increase the coverage of NTR.
Encouragingly already 12 ministries/divisions have sent several proposals for updating service fees and 91 new services are enlisted for NTR in FY23.
