United News of Bangladesh

National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan on Monday said the government has pledged to phase out tax exemptions unless they are deemed absolutely necessary for the country. “We are going out from the tax exemption culture, we have scrapped existing tax exemptions, we will not give any tax exemption freshly, we have taken a vow, we have prepared a policy that we will not give any tax exemption,” he said. He made the remarks while addressing a pre-budget meeting at the NBR conference room at the Revenue Building. Representatives from financial institutions including banks, insurance firms, leasing and merchant banks, the Bangladesh Securities Exchange Commission (BSEC), Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), and DSE Brokers’ Association, attended the meeting to present their budget proposals. Expressing dissatisfaction over repeated requests for tax exemptions, the NBR chief questioned the rationale behind seeking such benefits before setting up any entity. “The first demand is tax holiday, why? This attitude has to be change, otherwise nothing will happen. Every place there is one demand- tax holiday, we do not want to live with this tax exemption culture anymore,” he said. Tracking system to alert NBR of inefficiencies, irregularities among staff He said past tax exemptions have not yielded expected results. “We did not get any positive result wherever we gave this tax exemption,” he added. He said the government in the past time nurtured the tax exemption culture and currently the country is paying badly for that. “For that purpose, the tax GDP ratio is not increasing in the country, one analysis said that Bangladesh is losing the same amount of money what it collects as revenue due to the tax exemption, we do not want to bear this bad name anymore,” he said. Talking about the present condition of the capital market of Bangladesh, Md Abdur Rahman Khan said that the basic problem is the lack of good governance in the capital market. He mentioned that no country in the world could develop industrialisation without developing the capital market. “Bangladesh will not be able to do that also, but we have ruined this place through various means, still we are depending on the banking sector for the source of money for industrialisation,” he said. He blamed the regulators for the lack of confidence of the investors in the capital market. NBR to digitise its activities under master plan He said that business people used to take loans from the banks for setting up their industries but they are not interested to go to the capital market to raise funds. “Why they are not coming to the capital market, I do not know that,” he added. He also said that taking money from the banking sector is loan while raising fund from the capital market is “absolutely free money”. “You do not need to return that money, if you take money from the bank you have to start repaying just after one year, but you will need five years to set up the industry, to reach the break-even point you will need 20 years, them how you will do your business taking money from banks,” he said.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is prioritizing the recovery of lost or foregone revenue, according to NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan. He emphasized that bringing this revenue back into the national exchequer is the agency's primary focus. “It is actually our main job, and we are actively working in that direction,” said Khan during a press briefing at the NBR conference room on Wednesday. He reiterated the agency’s commitment to addressing the issue, noting that significant efforts are underway. Foregone revenue refers to the money an agency expects to collect but loses due to external factors or events. NBR confirms five-year tax exemption for Grameen Bank to end discrimination The NBR Chairman mentioned that the process of discussing and addressing lost revenue is handled through a forum that operates behind the scenes and is not visible to the public. “We are working in an integrated and coordinated manner,” Khan said, highlighting the collaborative approach NBR takes with other government bodies. He pointed out that the NBR is working closely with agencies such as the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and law enforcement agencies to address the issue. “You might not notice the process, but when results start becoming public, when the recovery process reaches a certain stage, you will be able to realize the impact,” Khan added, assuring that the NBR’s efforts will soon yield tangible outcomes.