National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan on Sunday categorically said his organisation will not hesitate to take any decision for the benefit for the country.
“We are moving towards that direction,” he said, while holding pre-budget discussion with the Newspapers Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) at NBR.
He mentioned that there are three reasons behind the lower tax-GDP ratio in the country. These are: huge number of tax exemptions and its misuses, short tax net for income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT) and operational inefficiency.
No VAT on purchases at supershops: NBR
The revenue collecting chief said that due to the tax exemption culture, the NBR gives away the same amount of money that it collects by taxation.
“We do not want to incur tax expenditure freshly,” he said.
Abdur Rahman Khan said that if anyone makes small profit then that person will give lower tax, that is the main ethos of the tax administration. He also said that due to the lack of automation, the NBR is still doing many of its duties manually.
Single-window digital trade hits a milestone: NBR
While placing a budget proposal for the NOAB, its president AK Azad demanded reducing import duty on newsprint to two percent, imposing VAT at 5 percent instead of 15 percent and write off corporate tax or make it nominal on newspaper industry considering it as a service industry.
Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman and Financial Express Editor Shamsul Huq Zahid also spoke.