Surcharge limit raised by Tk 10m

Budget 2023-24
Prothom Alo illustration

The finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday proposed to raise the surcharge from Tk 30 million to Tk 40 million in the proposed budget for the fiscal 2023-2024 to reduce the burden of the middle-class taxpayers.

In his budget speech, the finance minister proposed a minimum surcharge amounting to 10 per cent, where net wealth of an individual exceeds Tk 40 million and 35 per cent surcharge for individuals who have net wealth exceeding Tk 1 billion.

Surcharge is collected from wealthy individual taxpayers in Bangladesh at certain rates based on their income tax. This provision of surcharge has been in force for the last few years. Surcharge of individual taxpayers ensures balanced distribution of income and wealth along with economic development of society.

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 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.