Customs, tax rates to be rationalised in next budget
Staff Reporter :
National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said, taxpayers are our egg-laying hens. If we try to take out all the eggs at once, the hen will die.
He told tax officials, ‘Those who pay taxes regularly and follow the law, give them pain for their taxes, but don’t kill them.’
NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said these things at the ‘Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Transactions: Projected VAT Increase’ roundtable discussion organized by Prothom Alo on Wednesday. The discussion was held at the Prothom Alo Bhaban in Karwan Bazar.
Abdur Rahman Khan also said, businesses are dying, but businessmen are not dying. Whoever has a Mercedes-Benz car will need five Mercedes cars.
The NBR Chairman said that the next budget will not be ambitious. He said that the tax rate will be rationalized in the next budget. Businessmen will not be pressured; if necessary, the VAT rate will be reduced.
The NBR Chairman gave some ideas on what initiatives will be taken in the next budget for businessmen in various sectors.
He said that so that businessmen do not suffer, income tax and VAT rates will be rationalized in various fields. Duty rates will also be rationalized at the import stage. There will be major changes in customs and tax rates. Where there is an opportunity to collect customs duties and taxes, the tax net will be increased.
The NBR Chairman also said, “We have made the budget size much bigger. The budget is not being made based on how much revenue the NBR can collect. There are also questions about the budget expenditure. Due to the pressure on the NBR to collect additional revenue, regular taxpayers are being put under pressure. There will be a meeting with the Chief Advisor on the budget for the financial year 2025-26 on February 5. All these things will be discussed there.”
The NBR Chairman’s complaint against businessmen is that they also do a lot of things secretly when they get the opportunity.
The NBR Chairman believes that there is a lack of trust between businessmen and tax officials. He said, “If tax officials impose more taxes than the businessmen can afford, will the businessmen sell their ancestral land to pay the taxes?” The NBR Chairman said that from next year, arrangements are being made for company taxpayers to file returns online. In addition, 14 good companies are being given Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certificates, which will unload goods directly from ships and take them to warehouses.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur, Apex Footwear MD Syed Nasim Manjur, PRAN-RFL Group Chairman Ahsan Khan Chowdhury, MasterCard Bangladesh Country Manager Syed Mohammad Kamal, and businessmen and bankers from various sectors were present at the event.