Excise duty, VAT will not be revised down, says Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has reiterated that the proposed excise duty on bank deposits and uniform 15 percent VAT will not be revised.

He made it clear once again on Thursday while speaking to the media in Sylhet.

The FY2018 budget proposes to increase excise duty to Tk 800 from Tk 500 on accounts with balance of Tk 100,000 or more.

Bank accounts with balance between Tk 1 million and Tk 10 million will be charged Tk 2,500 instead of Tk 1,500.

Accounts that have deposits between Tk 10 million and Tk 50 million will be charged Tk 12,000 instead of Tk 7,500.

The excise duty on accounts holding over Tk 50 million will be raised to Tk 25,000 from Tk 15,000 now.

"There's no scope to cut it down, but still it will be discussed in parliament before passing it," said Muhith, who unveiled his 11th budget on Jun 1.

He also proposed a uniform VAT of 15 percent, to take effect from Jul 1.

He maintained a firm stance on the uniform VAT and said: "It's not coming down. The matter has been pending since 2012. I wanted to introduce it last year, but could not do so."