People’s awareness, automation in tax returns are necessary, roundtable observes

Automation in tax returns, public awareness, and efficient manpower are important for sustainable economic development, stakeholders at a roundtable observed on Thursday. 

The Institution of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and Prothom Alo organised the roundtable on national budget at ICAB council hall in Karwan Bazar.
Chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan highlighted good governance along alongside economic development.
NBR has made a proposal to increase its manpower to increase revenue collection, he added.
“We are forced to exempt tax for development of different sectors. We had to exempt tax in the power sector for years, which will affect us for years to come,” Mosharraf Hossain added.
Lamenting the increasing incidents of tax avoidance, he urged audit firms to provide actual audit reports.
Former advisor to a caretaker government Rasheda K Chowdhury strongly recommended more allocation in education and the health sector in the national budget.
“We outlay the least amount in the education sector. How we can expect to curb outward flow of remittance without spending money in the education sector?” she asked.
Referring to a research conducted by CARE, Rasheda Chowdhury said violence against women eats up 2 per cent of our GDP and corruption devours another 2 per cent.
She called for fighting against corruption and violence against women.
Former chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh Faruk Ahmad Siddiqui urged the authorities to increase Bangladesh’s tax revenue to GDP ratio as it is the lowest among South Asian countries.
Dwelling on strengthening the stock market, he said, increasing private sector investment in the stock market is the only long term solution in this end.
Faruk Siddiqui also underscored the need for strengthening NBR for sustainable development of the country.
Former vice president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce Industry (DCCI) Kamrul Islam proposed that the government can give tax rebate to Bangladeshi expatriates with expertise in various fields so that they return.
If we ensure tax rebate for them for first five years, outward flow of remittance would decrease, he added.
Center for Policy Dialogue’s (CPD) executive director Fahmida Khatun said that economic growth of Bangladesh is consumption-based rather than investment-based.
It’s not a good sign for an emerging economy like ours, Fahmida added.
She also lamented stagnation of private sector investment in the country.
ICAB president AF Nesaruddin in his welcoming speech said only 1.25 per cent of country’s population pays tax regularly and highlighted the need for increasing the taxpayers.
Bangladesh Merchant Bankers’ Association’s president Md Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, vice president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) Mushfiqur Rahman, Prothom Alo’s associate editor Abdul Quayyum, ICAB’s former president Kamrul Abedin, vice president Salim Uddin, ICAB secretary Muhammad Imrul Quayes , council member Md Shahadat Hossain, BISS director Mahfuz Karim, TCLC’s member Snehashis Barua, ICAB member Ahmed Raihan Shamsi, among others spoke at the programme moderated by ICAB council member Md Humayun Kabir.