‘Voters to elect pro-people candidates’

Finance minister AMA Muhith on Monday expressed his hope that the ‘conscious’ voters would cast their votes in the upcoming national election in favour of those who would devote themselves in people’s welfare.

“We will have to remain active so that the dynamism, which has been infused in the country’s economy, keeps going even after the election,” he said.

Muhith said, “The voters will take their decision as they are conscious and they won’t commit any mistake. I’m sure they would elect those in the election who would devote themselves in people’s welfare.”

The minister said this while distributing tax cards, crests and certificates to some 202 highest tax payers at national and district level at the Tax Card Giving Ceremony-2018 held at a city hotel.

State minister for finance and planning MA Mannan and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president M Shafiul Islam spoke on the occasion as special guests, chaired by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.

NBR member M Ziauddin Mahmud gave the address of welcome.

At the function, the NBR chairman handed over a life-time honour award to the finance minister for his contributions to the country’s economy.

The finance minister said the government has been trying hard for the last couple of years to enhance the growth of annual national income to 2 per cent from the present 1.7 per cent.

Mentioning that the overall revenue collection has almost tripled over the last 10 years, Muhith hoped that Bangladesh would become a prosperous developed country by the year 2040.

He also mentioned that efforts are on to further increase the size of the national budget from the present 16-17 per cent of GDP to ensure much more development.

Speaking on the occasion, MA Mannan said that the government always encourage the NBR to increase their association with the business community and the taxpayers to enhance realisation of tax.

FBCCI president M Shafiul Islam opined that such recognition to the valued highest taxpayers by the NBR would encourage further the new taxpayers to pay tax.

He also said that the business community would continue to work with the tax administration to make the tax management and realization system more transparent, accountable and hassle-free.

The NBR recently issued a notification revealing the names of 656 individual and corporate taxpayers for payments of the highest amount of income taxes in different categories in fiscal year 2017-18.

Of them, 141 taxpayers from individual and company categories were awarded tax cards for payments of the highest income taxes at the national level in the year.

The rest of the individual taxpayers will receive crests and certificates as recognition of their contributions as top taxpayers at district and city corporation levels in the year and for a long time.

Of the national-level highest taxpayers, 76 got the award from individual category, 55 from company category and 10 from other categories.

The NBR selected three highest taxpayers, two long-time taxpayers, one female and one young taxpayer from each of the districts and city corporations.

The highest tax cardholders are entitled to enjoying a number of privileges for one year, including priority while reserving seats in public transports, public hospitals, access to VIP lounges at the airports and invitation to various national functions.

The awardees of the highest taxpayers at national level include:

Senior citizen: Tapan Chowdhury, Khondker Badrul Hasan, Samuel S Chowdhury, Anita Chowdhury and Golam Dastagir Gazi.

War-wounded freedom fighter: Abu Saleh Mohammad Nasim, Nasir Uddin Mridha, Md Idris Ali Mia, SM Abdul Wahab and Md Ataur Rouf.

Physically-challenged: Sukarno Ghosh, Kazi Akhter Hossain and Md Mamunur Rashid.

Female: Rubayat Farzana Hossain, Ratna Patra, Parvin Hasan, Nishat Farzana Chowdhury and Mahmuda Ali Sikdar.

Individual (aged under 40): Nafis Sikder, Md Amjad Khan, Gazi Golam Mortuza, Md Hasan and Md Zulfikar Hossain Masud Rana.

Businessman: Md Kaus Mia, Md Nuruzzaman Khan, Kamrul Ashraf Khan, Syed Abul Hossain and Abdul Kadir Molla.

Salaried person: Laila Hossain, Mohammad Yusuf, Hosne Ara Hossain, Khwaja Tajmahal and MA Haider Hossain.

Doctor: AKM Fazlul Haque, Pran Gopal Datta, Jahangir Kabir, Md Nurul Islam and NAM Momenuzzaman.

Journalist: Mohammad Abdul Malek, Mahfuz Anam, Shaikh Siraj, Matiur Rahman and Naem Nizam.

Lawyer: Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh, Ahsanul Karim, Mahbubey Alam, Tanjib-ul-Alam and Nihad Kabir.
Engineer: Mohammad Anwar Hossain, Md Hafizur Rahman and Mohammad Hamidul Haque.

Architect: Faiz Ullah, Md Hasan Shams Uddin and Iqbal Habib.

Accountant: Md Moktar Hossain, MBM Lutful Hadee and Bimalendu Chakraborty

New taxpayer: Mia Monika Rafiqulovna, Md Tafijul Islam Pial, Rana Malik, Siatun Nesa, Selina Akter, Saiful Islam and Rasel Roy.

Athlete: Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal Khan and Mashrafe Bin Mortaza

Actor/actress: Mahfuz Ahmed, MA Jalil Ananta and SA Abul Hayat.

Singer: Tahsan Rahman Khan, Runa Laila and SD Rubel

Others: Sadruddin Khan, Abu Mohammad Ziauddin Khan and Nazrul Islam Mazumdar.