Speakers at a dialogue said that the income inequality in Bangladesh is widening due to indirect tax burden to lower income groups, while rich people are paying less comparing to their income and wealth. The speakers said this while speaking at a policy dialogue on ‘Using direct taxation to tackle inequality and boost revenue’ held at BRAC Inn in the capital on Wednesday (December 28, 2022). Dr. Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, Chairman of Research and Policy integration for Development (RAPID) presented a keynote paper on the topic. Former chairman of NBR Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid, Director General of BCS (Tax) Academy MM Fazlul Haque, Professor of DU Dr Abu Eusuf, Finance Division (budget) joint secretary Dr Mohammad Abu Yusuf, ERD Joint Secretary Md Anowar Hossain, among others, spoke in the function. Read more: Tax return submission deadline extended to January 1, 2023 RAPID Chairman Dr Razzaque explained in the keynote paper that income inequality is widening in society despite growth in manufacturing, agriculture, and other sectors due to an unjust taxation system. This income discrimination would be more if the reform in the taxation system is not done with a strong commitment to the nation, he pointed out. “Comparing the small GDP of many other economies in the world, Bangladesh earns only 35 percent of its revenue from direct tax while it is 65 percent from indirect tax. It is expected to be 70 percent revenue from the direct tax, considering the volume of the country’s (Bangladesh) economy like some other countries,” he added. Dr Razzaque said that recently the NBR announced to increase the share of direct tax from 35 to 70 percent of total revenue – which is a welcome initiative and will drive economic growth and strengthen the government’s ability to provide essential public services. Read more: Present tax system is not in favour of industrial development: BCI But the implementation of the target is far behind the projected time, he said. Dr Abdul Mazid said, “The NBR must be established as a state agency, and not a government agency. As such, NBR should not be dependent on the government. Rather, it should be an independent operator on behalf of the state.” He emphasized long-term planning to increase revenue collection by reforming Bangladesh's taxation system and the NBR.

Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce (BCI) has demanded simplification of the taxation system saying that people feel reluctant to pay taxes due to complexities. “The taxation system must be simple and taxpayers-friendly so that people feel encouraged”, said BCI president Anwar-ul-Alam Chowdhury (Parvez) while addressing a press at the BCI Conference room in the city to place budget reactions. President of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Md Saiful Islam and senior vice president of the BCI Priti Chakraborty and director Delower Hossain Raja were present on the occasion. Also read: Taxation of Bangladeshi Freelancers in 2021 Parvez said that in the current system, experienced people do not encourage others to pay tax due to the complexity of the system. “If the government can create a friendly atmosphere, the number of taxpayers could reach 1.5 crore within a year and the budget deficit could be met from the revenue collections”, he said. The BCI presented a number of demands and recommendations for incorporating in the national budget. The demands include a 5-year tax holiday for young entrepreneurs, and then fixation of corporate tax for micro, cottage and small industries at 10-15 percent, fixing the source tax at 0-3 percent for import of raw materials, 2 percent tax waiver for all green industries, fixing VAT at 10 percent for import-substitute industries and tax-free income limit at Tk 500,000 for individual taxpayers. Parvez also urged the government not to raise electricity and petroleum prices saying that if the cost of production goes up, it will impact on the production and finally production would decrease. He observed that young entrepreneurs would not be benefited from the special fund formed by the government due to lack of specific policy guidelines in the national budget 2022-23. “We urge the government to frame a policy guideline so that the young entrepreneurs can utilize the fund,” he said. Also read: Focus on extending tax net to enhance Tax-GDP ratio: ICAB Parvez urged the government to rethink about a decision not to allow operation of business establishments including markets and shops after 8 pm. He said the businessmen could not do their business in last two years during the Eid. “So this year Eid is very important to them to do their business ,” he said.

Speakers at a webinar on Saturday stressed the need for reforming the taxation system alongside tapping the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) potentials in a wide range of sectors like agro processing, light engineering, non-cotton apparel, home textile, blue economy and education in Bangladesh to ensure export diversification and smooth LDC graduation. They also suggested extending the scope for whitening undisclosed money in the health infrastructure, economic zones, and in other infrastructure sectors alongside the existing sectors to create more employment opportunities. The participants also opined that all the concerned stakeholders need to extend their all-out cooperation to the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) to attract more FDI in the country. The webinar was organized as part of the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF) Webinar Series in partnership with the Asia Foundation and Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID). As the chief guest, Planning Minister MA Mannan spoke at the Webinar titled-“FDI for Export Diversification and Smooth LDC Graduation” while ERF Vice President Shafiqul Alam was chair. Chairman of RAPID and Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI) Dr Mohammad Abdur Razzaque made the key-note presentation and ERF general secretary SM Rashidul Islam moderated the function. MA Mannan said it is a fact that the country does not receive that level of FDI that it needs. “In this regard, all the concerned agencies need to accomplish their tasks in due time to attract more FDI,” he also said, suggesting overcoming the “cultural context” and thus move forward together with modern attitude. Also read: BIDA, BBF join hands to boost FDI BIDA Executive Chairman Md Sirazul Islam said BIDA needs to be empowered fully as it still needs to depend on others to facilitate the private sector. Noting that there is no lacking from BIDA to create enabling environment for attracting more FDI, he added that the Authority has made effective the One Stop Service (OSS) platform to ensure transparent and hassle free service delivery. Sirazul informed that some 47 services have so far been brought under online while the services of some 16 organizations including BIDA have already come under OSS platform. Listing various steps of the BIDA to further ease the doing business index, he informed that separate courts would be lunched in Dhaka and Chattogram to speedily resolve the commercial disputes. “We'll definitely try our best to face the challenges emerging before us. But for that the public and the private sector need to work together,” he said adding that the door of BIDA would always remain open for the private sector. Sirazul also opined that if the local Investment could be promoted further, there would be more FDI inflow. He suggested for providing COVID-19 vaccination facility to the legally employed foreigners in Bangladesh to show that Bangladesh values all lives equally and also to send a good signal to the outside world. Also read: FICCI roundtable upholds importance of FDI to Vision 2041 President of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Barrister Nihad Kabir said the now defunct Board of Investment (BOI) was earlier regarded as the “Dead Stop Service” or ‘Full Stop Service’, but now BIDA has somehow managed to overcome that bad name, but still there is a lot to do. Expressing her resentment over the treatment of the businessmen in the country, Nihad said if the businessmen are not treated with respect in the country, then the foreign investors would not come to a big extent. She said although Bangladesh has an extremely courageous leader to run the country, but others are not moving ahead with the same pace that the Prime Minister has. Nihad also suggested for targeting the potential sectors, adopting a coherent policy strategy by BIDA, signing more Preferential Trade Agreements with potential countries, and thus extending all-out support to BIDA to attract more FDI. The President of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) Rizwan Rahman underscored the need for reforming the tax rate as it is still high compared to the global and Asian average. He also suggested extending the provision for whitening undisclosed money in the health infrastructure, tourism and in economic zones alongside the real estate and capital market, otherwise there would be bubbles in the economy. Rizwan said that there is much more scope for attracting more FDI in the Blue Economy and education sectors of the country. He said that if the non-RMG sectors could be nurtured properly apart from the RMG sector, then the country would be able to realize billions of dollars of export earnings. Also read: Bangladesh seeks increased FDI in economic zones Citing an example that the Bangladeshi exports earn $1,089 by exporting 1000KGs of tea shirts, whereas the Vietnamese exporters earn $2,157 by exporting the same volume, Syed Nasim Manzur, Managing Director of Apex Footwear Ltd, said “bargaining power’ makes the difference here which needs to be addressed. He said it is the high time to recapture the Japanese Investment from Myanmar to Bangladesh adding, “This is the chance we must not lose,” About the taxation system, the country's leading entrepreneur in the footwear sector alleged that taxation system in the country is totally taxpayer unfriendly adding that new entrepreneurs would not come while the existing businesses would not flourish unless the taxation system is reformed. He also suggested ensuring duty free and quota free access in markets like Japan, EU, India and China by not looking forward only to the market of USA. Manzur cited huge FDI and Investment potentials in the country's agro processed food, light engineering, non-cotton apparel and home textile sectors for which there is a need for necessary tax reforms. In his key-note address, Dr Abdur Razzaque said the tax-GDP ratio needs to be revamped in Bangladesh while FDI can create modern job opportunities and bring in new technology and management practices for Bangladesh. Mentioning that public health expenditure is one of the lowest in Bangladesh, he said this budget needs to be increased while more investment is needed in the education sector. Mentioning that countries like Vietnam and Indonesia are greatly benefitting from FDI, Razzaque said their good practices can be applied in Bangladesh. Executive Director of RAPID and Dhaka University Professor of Development Studies Dr M Abu Yusuf and Country Representative of the Asia Foundation Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj gave the welcome addresses.