Sugar import tax a ‘printing mistake’, says NBR chief

The new sugar import tax proposal was ‘mistakenly’ printed in the proposed budget, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman says.

Md Nojibur Rahman spoke on the matter at a post-budget media conference in Dhaka on Friday in presence of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

Muhith presented a nearly Tk 3 trillion budget on Thursday expanding the tax net where he did not speak about raising tax on sugar import.

But, at the end of a written speech, a chart showed hiking unrefined sugar import tax to Tk 4,000 from Tk 2,000 and Tk 8,000 for refined sugar from Tk 4,500 per metric tonne.

It said the new rate would be effective from Aug 1.

At a post-budget discussion, the CPD, too, questioned the proposed hike.

On Friday, Muhith was apparently annoyed when journalists brought the matter to his attention.

He frowned at the NBR chief and asked, “How did this happen?”

Rahman replied: “It was a mistake. We’ll resolve the matter through an amendment at the Parliament Secretariat on Sunday.”

The finance minister said the sugar issue would not be included in the Finance Bill.

Muhith further said he will also amend the proposal for raising minimum tax ceiling.

Tax-free personal income has been raised to Tk 250,000 from Tk 230,000 while minimum tax has been hiked to Tk 4,000.

At present, the minimum tax for city corporations, municipalities in Sadar Upazilas, and taxpayers of other areas are Tk 3,000, Tk 2,000 and Tk 1,000 respectively.

In his budget speech, the minister proposed a minimum Tk 4,000 tax.

But a day later, he said the figure will be revised.

“It will be separate for the city corporations,” he said, “It will be amended.”