Former NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Majid termed the period under the current interim government as a great opportunity for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to rectify all its collection errors and issues.
“Of course, this is an opportunity for the NBR, this is an opportunity for all the people of the country. The sacrifice of so much blood is not a tiny matter at all, they fought for a cause, the cause is transparency, justice, accountability and governance,” he said.
Abdul Majid, who was appointed as the NBR chairman in October 22, 2007 during the then caretaker government, said that NBR knows everything regarding the matter of untapped revenue.
“But it did not act properly or was not allowed to act properly. Usually during this type of interim government they can do it,” he said.
He thinks that the NBR could get the opportunity to work freely whatever needed to achieve its revenue target during this interim government period.
“If they (NBR) utilise the opportunity properly, then their revenue collection will shoot up,” he said.
He said that in 2007-08 fiscal year while he was the NBR chairman and caretaker government was in the power, that time the revenue collection target was Tk 37,000 but NBR collected Tk 47,000 crore. And it was the first time NBR could suppress its target.
“Because, NBR could act freely as per its rules and regulations,” he added.
He said that NBR now also can suppress the target if it takes it as a challenge.
“Question is whether they would get the chance to do that. For this everyone of the NBR needs to be united and work hard. If NBR during the interim period wants to apply its tools as per the rules and regulations then it will be able to touch the target,” he said.
Majid, whose tenure was ended as NBR chief on April 4, 2009, alleged that revenue is there in the economy, NBR was not allowed to collect. “If the revenue which are still in the economy can be collected, then the target will be fulfilled.”
Responding to a question, the former revenue collecting chief said that there is no reason to suffer a set back for revenue collection for the NBR for the turmoil in the last one and a half month.
He said that In this time the business might be stalled or there was less buy and sell during this time.
“If there was no business or less business, the impact of this will be seen in the tax file of the next fiscal. This is not the matter of this time.”
He said that the import activities was more or less stopped during last couple of months, so it would not make any impact on customs duties.
“So I think that there is no reason to have a big setback for the NBR in revenue collection due to this turmoil.”
Regarding the revenue collection target of Tk 480,000 crore for the running 2024-25 fiscal, he said that the target is correctly fixed in the budget.
“The NBR should be given higher target.”
He mentioned that the practice during the last 15 years or during the tenure of any political government had given target but did not fix the economy. As a result, NBR used to fail to achieve its target, he added.
Apart of this in the last 15 years the Awami League- led government did not go for any reform activities which was supposed to take place for the sake of economy.
“If the wellness and purity of the economy can be ensured during this interim government, it would be not a problem for the NBR.”
He said that during the caretaker or interim government it is easy to repair the economy removing all irregularities and corruptions.
In this connection he mentioned the NBR order seeking details of the bank accounts and other financial details of five business tycoons of the country by the NBR.
The NBR on Thursday asked banks to provide account details of the chiefs of five business giants to scrutinise their tax compliance.
The revenue authority's Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) sought the details of vice-chairman of Beximco Salman F Rahman, chairman of Nassa Group Nazrul Islam Mazumder, chairman of Summit Group Mohammed Aziz Khan, chairman of Bashundhara Group Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, and chairman of Orion Group Mohammad Obaidul Karim.
The NBR sought information of deposits, savings accounts, current accounts, loan accounts, foreign currency accounts, credit cards, lockers and vaults owned by the tycoons and their family members from July 1, 2015.
“It only happened as the non-partisan interim government is in the power, otherwise they could not do it like the past,” Majid said.
He also said, “NBR used to listen to the sermons came from ‘Kashim Bazar Kuthir’ that resulted in shortfall of revenue collection.”
He also pointed that NBR officials had to obey one business leader’s orders during the previous AL government.