United News of Bangladesh

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has taken a move to introduce tax-related textbook materials in the educational system of the country aiming to educate the populace on the importance of the tax system from early life. Currently, according to the NBR officials, in Bangladesh there is no tax related education at any stage, which creates reluctance among the people. This initiative aims to instill a sense of fiscal responsibility among students from an early age, thereby promoting a culture of voluntary tax compliance in the long term. “We want to induct related materials in different levels of the education from primary to higher secondary level,” a senior official of the NBR told UNB, speaking anonymously due to the matter not being finalised yet. He said that they had already talked about this matter with various retired NBR officials who are known to write well, to design the curriculum. “But this is not at the final stage right now,” he added. He mentioned that to improve the tax culture in the country there is no alternative to tax education among the common people of the country. “They will not be compliant without tax education, this is the big matter,” he said. For this purpose, the NBR has initiated the move to induct tax education in the text books from the very beginning. At the initial stage, the students at the primary schools will know what is tax, how to pay this, what is the affect of non-paying taxes and what does the government do with taxes. “The little students will know these matters at the primary level, after that in the secondary level the simple tax related calculations will be taught while at the higher secondary level they will be given to fill up simple tax file,” the NBR official said. In this context, he said that recently the NBR has organised a countrywide essay competition aiming to create public awareness on tac related matters. “For preparing the essay the participants will search tax system of several countries, study those, know the tax culture of various countries,” he added. NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan in pre-budget meetings emphasised the importance of early education in fostering tax awareness. He proposed the development of engaging educational materials, including cartoons and simplified texts, tailored for pre-primary and primary school students. NBR moves to bring land, flat, building owners under tax net For higher education levels, such as high schools and colleges, tax-related content could be integrated into subjects like social science or introduced as standalone courses. Currently, Bangladesh’s revenue collection heavily relies on indirect taxes, such as customs duties and Value Added Tax (VAT), which constitute approximately 67% of total revenue. In contrast, direct taxes, primarily income tax, account for about 33%. The NBR aims to increase the contribution of direct taxes to 42% by 2031 and 50% by 2041 through taxpayer-friendly policies and expanded education initiatives.

Some 57 percent of SME entrepreneurs mentioned the tax structure as the main obstacle to doing business in compliance with the law while 54 percent of entrepreneurs consider the trade license renewal process as an obstacle. Some 51 percent of entrepreneurs see the additional cost of trade licenses as an obstacle whereas 44 percent say that the complexity of government laws and regulations is also one of the obstacles. This information has emerged from a study by the SME Foundation. Prof Dr Melita Mehjabeen of Dhaka University presented these findings on Sunday at a seminar titled ‘Informal SMEs in Bangladesh: Formalization Challenges and Way Forward’. The seminar, organised by SME Foundation and German development agency Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Bangladesh, was held at the Agargaon Tourism Building. The event was chaired by Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, Managing Director of SME Foundation. Industry Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan was the chief guest while Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana was the special guest. Bangladesh’s ADP implementation rate at five-year low Dr. Felix Gerdes, Resident Representative of FES Bangladesh, and Gunjan Dallakoti, Program Head of International Labor Organization in Bangladesh, also spoke at the session. Md. Nazim Hasan Sattar, General Manager of SME Foundation, delivered the welcome speech at the seminar. The main article presented the detailed information of the research and further stated that more than 74 percent of the country's SME entrepreneurs want to do business in compliance with the government's laws and regulations. However, in this case, there is a need to simplify the government's rules and regulations or introduce one-stop services, increase collateral-free loans and increase the facilities for doing business in compliance with the law. This research was conducted on 304 entrepreneurs from Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Khulna and Rajshahi. The entrepreneurs said that while in India only 7 certificates are required from various government departments to do business in compliance with the law, in Bangladesh they need certificates from at least 34 departments. According to the 2013 Economic Survey of the Bureau of Statistics, there are more than 7.8 lakh CMSME establishments in the country, employing about 25 million people. However, most of these institutions are informal or outside the government's laws, regulations and tax framework. In this situation, experts have recommended the government to prepare a comprehensive strategy paper to bring these institutions under the law, regulations and tax framework, formalize them step by step, simplify the rules and regulations, and provide financial and non-financial incentives to entrepreneurs. SME entrepreneurs, representatives of various ministries and departments, SME chambers and associations, banks and financial institutions, researchers, economists and relevant stakeholders participated in the seminar. The SME Foundation is implementing various programs in accordance with the government's National Industrial Policy 2022, SME Policy 2019, UN SDG 2030 and government directives to develop the SME sector through economic, social and environmental protection of the country. Since its establishment in 2007, about two million small and medium entrepreneurs in the country have been beneficiaries of various programs of the SME Foundation.