Muhith lauds Saifur Rahman

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has praised his predecessor M Saifur Rahman for introducing VAT in Bangladesh in the early 1990s which has become a major source of national revenue.

Speaking at a discussion on Wednesday in Dhaka on the VAT Law, Muhith recalled the veteran BNP leader's contribution.

"It is a very good law," the finance minister said. "Saifur Rahman promulgated and enforced the VAT law in 1991, although many had opposed it at that time."

Muhith lost to Rahman in the 2001 national polls from Sylhet Sadar but defeated him in the 2008 elections.

Rahman, Bangladesh's longest serving finance minister before Muhith, died in a road accident on Sep 5, 2009.

He placed 12 national budgets in Parliament during his tenure.

Muhith said Saifur Rahman would have been elated to see how his VAT law was yielding results.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, speaking at the same programme, said that, in the last fiscal, the government realised around Tk 500 billion from VAT, which was 37 percent of the total revenue.

The Awami League had opposed the introduction of the VAT system in 1991.

In that year, Tk 17.35 billion was collected by way of VAT, according to the National Board of Revenue.

The amount increased nearly 30 times in the previous 2013-14 fiscal year.

For the 2014-15 fiscal, the government has fixed a target of Tk 565 billion revenue from VAT.

A new VAT law, passed on Nov 27, 2012, would be effective from July 1 next year.

Various organisations of businessmen, including Bangladesh's apex business body FBCCI, have been against the law right from the beginning.