Businesses for hassle-free tax collection system
Staff Reporter :
Businesses on Sunday urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to stop harassment in the name of tax collection.
“Businessmen want to do business without harassment and they traders will pay taxes and VAT correctly, if harassment is stopped. Currently, the businessmen are more advanced and they are always with the National Board of Revenue (NBR), if they are not being harassed,” said FBCCI President Mahbubul Alam.
He was speaking at a seminar organised by the NBR marking the VAT Day and VAT Week 2023 at the multipurpose hall room of the revenue board.
The FBCCI president further said, “Perhaps one to two per cent traders may have taken unfair means in paying tax. But, it will not be there either, if harassment reduces.
We want to pay taxes, but we do not wish to be subjected to any harassment.”
“Tax coverage should be widened to increase revenue without putting burden on those who pay taxes regularly.
There are many businesses at the upazila level and the NBR needs to pay attention there,” Mahbub said.
“At the same time, in the case of VAT collection, special attention should be paid to the installation of Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFD) machines in all sector-wise shops at a time,” he added.
Meanwhile, Commerce Ministry Senior Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh condemned Bangladeshi onion sellers and labeled their activities as “irresponsible business.”
“If someone bought a product for Tk100-120 today, how can its price suddenly become Tk200 the next day? The price should not increase overnight if India bans onion export,” he added.
Criticising the onion sellers who take advantage of the opportunity when imports are halted, he said, “In a free market economy, it cannot be restricted. Even with policing, we can’t stop it.”
In such scenarios, Ghosh suggested the need for a seasonal tariff arrangement, saying, “We suspend import in the interest of the farmers.
However, going forward we need to adopt a seasonal tariff system to maintain our import opportunities. At times tariff will be imposed, sometimes not…but import opportunities have to be preserved.”
During the event, Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder said, “There has been a reduction in inflation last month, and it is likely to decrease further in next month. By the end of the fiscal year, inflation will fall below 7 per cent.”
The NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem presided over the event.
In the event, NBR honoured nine companies who have paid the highest amount of value-added tax (VAT) in their respective sectors in 2020-21 fiscal year.
The awards were given in manufacturing, trading and services sector categories to encourage businesses to properly deposit the indirect tax paid by the consumers to the state coffer.
In the services sector, bKash, Aarong and Nagad won the awards, while Olympic Industries Limited, UniMed UniHealth Pharmaceuticals Ltd, General Pharmaceutical Ltd won the awards in the manufacturing sector and Walton Plaza, Unimart Ltd and HAMKO Corporation Ltd won the awards in the trading sector.
