Tax returns to be mandatory for all trade-licence holders
By Mohammed M. Masud

    Submission of tax return will be made mandatory from the next fiscal for businesspeople who have trade licences, Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman said on July 10th 2006.
   “We will introduce mandatory tax return for businessmen who have trade licenses from the 2004-2005 fiscal, taking into account the tax-GDP ratio, which is the lowest in the world at 10 per cent,” he told the 25th meeting of the consultative committee, organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the National Board of Revenue.
   The government also has plans to make submission of tax return mandatory for all citizens in the future, he added. “There are many countries where tax return is mandatory for the citizens.”
   Chamber leader hailed the government plan on mandatory tax return for businesspeople and said it would create a level-playing field and help reduce the government’s dependence on a certain number of regular taxpayers.
   The government has made submission of tax return mandatory in the current budget for businesspeople who have trade licences and bank accounts. However, they seldom submit tax return, claiming that they do not have bank accounts, NBR officials told New Age.
   “The next budget might exclude the provision of bank account from the present conditions for submitting tax return for businesspeople,” an NBR official said.
   Meanwhile, at the consultative meeting, Saifur blamed politics for creating division among people and causing anxiety in society when unity among the citizens was needed for a stronger economic base.
   The finance minister said budget formulation was a tough task as the government ‘has to deal with different pressure groups and conflicting and contradictory interests of stakeholders’.
   “Importers, exporters, lawmakers, environmentalists and donors put pressure on the government from their respective priorities,” Saifur said.
   The government‘s priority is to bolster rural economy through rendering support to agro- sector in the upcoming budget, he added. “Our objective is to generate more employment through budgetary measures.”
   The minister brushed aside widespread speculation that elimination of the Multi Fibre Arrangement in 2005 would spell doom for textile and readymade garment sectors. “All the RMG exporters do not export to the United States; there are many other export destinations.”
   He termed issuance of statutory regulatory order for raise or reduce import duties ‘completely unscientific’ and ‘devoid of transparency’.
   The minister, however, lamented that he “cannot decide on everything as different pressure groups within and outside the government push through such orders from time to time”.
   Saifur also came down heavily on foreign consultants, saying they had done little to reform the tax system.
   He told the meeting that online payment of income tax would be introduced in future.
   The finance minister termed the agro-industry the most neglected sector and blamed lawmakers for vehemently opposing increase in price of foodgrains during the government’s internal procurement drive. “No industry can survive without a price support policy.”
   Saifur said less than three per cent of the GDP came from foreign assistance and said it was not enough for a country to subsist on.
   The finance minister also claimed that the donors put pressure on the government to slow down reforms in some areas.
   “We could not go on with full-fledged reforms in the macroeconomic sector due to many conflicting and contradictory interests,” Saifur said as he referred to the donor-dictated privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
   He said Bangladesh would be more prosperous in near future. “It is a miracle that 14 crore people live in a country of 55,000 square miles.”
   FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo said introduction of mandatory tax return for businesspeople would play a pivotal role in creating a level-playing field.
   “The announcement would be helpful for the businesspeople as well as for the government in creating a level-playing field as a considerable number of businessmen have been doing brisk business without paying any tax while honest businessmen face an uneven competition,” Mintoo told New Age after the meeting.
   Leading businessmen, chamber leaders, exporters, importers, industrialists and government bureaucrats were present at the meeting, presided over by Mintoo. NBR chairman Khairuzzaman Chowdhury delivered the welcome speech.
   FBCCI president conducted the meeting, while the NBR chairman Khairuzzaman Chowdhury delivered welcome speech.