UNB, Dhaka :
Although the first quarter of the current fiscal year has already elapsed, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has failed to take any effective step for realising one percent surcharge or green tax from the industries and factories that are polluting the environment.
“We’ve prepared a list of environment-polluting industries in collaboration with the Department of the Environment (DoE) for realising the surcharge, and it’s now awaiting the Finance Ministry’s approval,” an NBR official told UNB.
According to sources at the Finance Ministry, the government is thinking about the image of the country’s export products before making the names of these polluting industries or factories public as many exporters have requested the government to be cautious over selecting the names of the industries and take into consideration the sustainability of their business.
They said, if the names of the polluting industries are published it would taint the image of Bangladeshi products in the global market.
Officials said, the DoE listed the industries that have so far faced penal actions for violating the Environment Conservation Act 1995. The industries have polluted the environment by not
installing Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and also by other ways.
In the budget for FY 2014-15, the government imposed the 1 percent surcharge on the prices of the goods produced by polluting factories.
The NBR has prepared a list of around 2,498 industries in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna for imposing the newly introduced ‘green tax’ on them, aiming to collect more than Tk 300 crore.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech said there is no alternative to development of domestic industries for the country’s economic growth. “But, it can’t be ignored that this development is also having some adverse effects on the environment by way of polluting the soil, air and water resources,” he said.
The government has decided to impose the 1 percent ‘Environment Protection Surcharge’ ‘green tax’ on ad-valorem basis on all kinds of products manufactured in Bangladesh by the industries which pollute the environment, Muhith said.
The green tax, the first of its kind in the country, was thus made effective from July 1 this year, said an official.
The NBR, meanwhile, has formulated a policy to collect the green tax. As per the policy, the tax regulatory body will collect this tax the way it collects VAT through treasury chalan. “NBR officials are optimistic about collecting at least Tk 300 crore from this green tax,” the official said wishing not to be named.
The NBR has prepared the list of environment polluters in three categories with the industries in Dhaka falling in the first category, while those in Chittagong and Khulna in the second category and those in other divisional headquarters in the third category.
The number of industries in the first category is 1,244 that pollute the environment. The list of the industries sent by the DoE included tanneries, ceramics, re-rolling steel mills, jute mills and garment, battery, rubber, sweater and fertiliser factories, food processing and beverage industries, and hospitals and clinics.
These industries pollute the air, soil and water through discharging untreated industrial wastage.
The revenue board has already requested the Internal Resources Division of the Finance Ministry for creating a separate code to deposit the collected green tax to the national exchequer.
At the end of August, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while visiting the Industries Ministry laid emphasis on protecting the environment and suggested the authorities concerned for completing the work of setting up ETPs fast, signing deals with industrialists for giving mandatory fees for using ETPs while allocating their plots to check the environmental from pollution.
Although the first quarter of the current fiscal year has already elapsed, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has failed to take any effective step for realising one percent surcharge or green tax from the industries and factories that are polluting the environment.
“We’ve prepared a list of environment-polluting industries in collaboration with the Department of the Environment (DoE) for realising the surcharge, and it’s now awaiting the Finance Ministry’s approval,” an NBR official told UNB.
According to sources at the Finance Ministry, the government is thinking about the image of the country’s export products before making the names of these polluting industries or factories public as many exporters have requested the government to be cautious over selecting the names of the industries and take into consideration the sustainability of their business.
They said, if the names of the polluting industries are published it would taint the image of Bangladeshi products in the global market.
Officials said, the DoE listed the industries that have so far faced penal actions for violating the Environment Conservation Act 1995. The industries have polluted the environment by not
installing Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and also by other ways.
In the budget for FY 2014-15, the government imposed the 1 percent surcharge on the prices of the goods produced by polluting factories.
The NBR has prepared a list of around 2,498 industries in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna for imposing the newly introduced ‘green tax’ on them, aiming to collect more than Tk 300 crore.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget speech said there is no alternative to development of domestic industries for the country’s economic growth. “But, it can’t be ignored that this development is also having some adverse effects on the environment by way of polluting the soil, air and water resources,” he said.
The government has decided to impose the 1 percent ‘Environment Protection Surcharge’ ‘green tax’ on ad-valorem basis on all kinds of products manufactured in Bangladesh by the industries which pollute the environment, Muhith said.
The green tax, the first of its kind in the country, was thus made effective from July 1 this year, said an official.
The NBR, meanwhile, has formulated a policy to collect the green tax. As per the policy, the tax regulatory body will collect this tax the way it collects VAT through treasury chalan. “NBR officials are optimistic about collecting at least Tk 300 crore from this green tax,” the official said wishing not to be named.
The NBR has prepared the list of environment polluters in three categories with the industries in Dhaka falling in the first category, while those in Chittagong and Khulna in the second category and those in other divisional headquarters in the third category.
The number of industries in the first category is 1,244 that pollute the environment. The list of the industries sent by the DoE included tanneries, ceramics, re-rolling steel mills, jute mills and garment, battery, rubber, sweater and fertiliser factories, food processing and beverage industries, and hospitals and clinics.
These industries pollute the air, soil and water through discharging untreated industrial wastage.
The revenue board has already requested the Internal Resources Division of the Finance Ministry for creating a separate code to deposit the collected green tax to the national exchequer.
At the end of August, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina while visiting the Industries Ministry laid emphasis on protecting the environment and suggested the authorities concerned for completing the work of setting up ETPs fast, signing deals with industrialists for giving mandatory fees for using ETPs while allocating their plots to check the environmental from pollution.
