Muhith wants to bring all ‘breadwinners’ under tax net

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has revealed a plan to impose at least a ‘minimal tax’ on all ‘earning persons.’

“Out of 160 million people of the country, only 1.1 million pay income tax. This is absurd. There should be minimum tax for everybody,” he told a seminar in Dhaka on Saturday.

“It may be implemented in the next budget,” he added.

“Our revenue collection strategy is not so good. Only 1.1 million people pay tax, though the number of TIN (Tax Identification Number) holders is 1.85 million. This is shameful and unbelievable,” Muhith said.

He also said coordination between Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission and other government agencies was needed to fix a “reasonable” tax rate for telephone operators and other information and communication technology firms.

Policy Research Institute (PRI) organised the seminar on “Expenditure Strategy for the 7th Plan with Focus on the FY2016 National Budget.”

Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Presiodent Syed Nasim Manzur was the special guest.

He said large infrastructure development projects should be implemented in time in order to make Bangladesh a middle-income country.

He also stressed reduction of interest rates on loans to create business friendly environment.  

PRI Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur, in his keynote paper, said two to four percent of the budget’s revenue target could not be achieved every year.

He said this was the reason why money could not be provided for the Sixth Five Year Plan.

Mansur emphasised modernisation of revenue collection mechanism to implement the Seventh Five Year Plan.

PRI Vice-Chairman Sadiq Ahmed, among others, also spoke at the seminar.