From now on, individuals -- who do not have taxable incomes -- will have to pay a minimum income tax of Tk 2,000 to avail 44 types of government services.
The finance minister made the proposal while unveiling the budget for the fiscal 2023-24 in the parliament on Thursday.
In his budget speech, the minister said, "One of the responsibilities of a citizen in a country is to ensure their participation in the government's welfare work by paying minimum tax in return of the privileges provided by the state to them."
"I propose to make the minimum tax two thousand taka among competent people who are below taxable income but has obligation to submit income tax return to take services from the government with a view to circulating this participation in government welfare work," he added.
The budget speech this year is titled "Unnayner Agrayatra Periye Smart Bangladesher Abhimukhe" (Towards a Smart Bangladesh after the march of development).
The size of the budget this time is Tk 7.6 trillion which was approved in a cabinet meeting presided over by prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the parliament.
The target of income in the budget would be Tk 5 trillion (500,000 crore). Of the amount, the target of income of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will be Tk 4.3 trillion.
The deficit in the budget will be more than Tk 2.5 trillion. The GDP growth target in the upcoming budget would be 7.5 per cent while the inflation rate would be 6.5 per cent.