Govt emphasises raising collection of non-tax revenue

The interim government has put emphasis on raising non-tax revenue (NTR) to finance the national budget. At the same time, the government wants to increase the collection of non-NBR revenue as well.

Such a decision means the government’s income will increase from fees of various services the ministries, departments, divisions and agencies provide to the people.

The government said, “Service fees will be updated at appropriate times due to necessities or after every three years.” Those, however, will be done taking into consideration cost of providing services, quality of lifestyle, inflation rate and other economic indicators.

This was said in a new guideline the finance division issued Sunday on proper management in collection of non-tax revenue and non-NBR revenue.

It also mentioned that there is a significant possibility that the revenue collection from NTR and non-NBR sources will soar.

This fulfilled the necessity of a timely guideline required for increasing collection from the two sources.

Speaking about this, finance and commerce adviser Salehuddin Ahmed told Prothom Alo on Monday that there are many opportunities to expand revenue collection in the country. For now, the finance division has issued the guidelines to increase revenue from NTR and non-NBR sources. The work is underway to raise revenue from NBR sources as well.

The guideline mentioned it was issued with a view to fixing a target of revenue collection from NTR and non-NBR sources, imposing reasonable fees, identifying right sectors, regular collection of the government’s due interest and profit and proper collection, management and distribution of wealth.

It further said the ministries and departments have to take steps to identify sectors to expand NTR and non-NBR tax-revenue ratio. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure competency, transparency, and accountability for revenue collection by NTR and non-NBR sources.

According to the guideline, an automatic Chalan or A-chalan will have to be used to deposit the collected revenue to the state coffer, as well as details on revenue including money, sectors, chalan number will have to be recorded in the specific register.

Fees, toll, lease and rent money, etc. will be deposited on the day of the collection. In case, money is collected after office hours or on a government holiday, money will be deposited to the state coffer on the next working day.

A quarterly review report will be filed to the Finance Division detailing the situation of collection against the NRT and non-NBR tax and revenue target. Ministries or departments will send an analysis report to the Finance Division in October every year highlighting the fixating, re-fixing or determining service values or fees.

The guideline said the Finance Ministry would hold a quarterly review meeting and give opinions on fixing, re-fixing or imposing fees, as well as take measures to formulate policy NTr and non-NBR revenue policy and develop a database on all types of government services.

Failure to pay or violation of any rules will result in punishment, according to the guidelines.

Replying to a query on the possible action, a senior official of the Finance Division said there is no shortage of government rules and laws to take action.

The size of the budget is Tk 7.97 trillion in the current 2024-25 fiscal. The budget deficit stood at Tk 2.56 trillion excluding aids. Total revenue was estimated at 5.45 trillion including the grants of Tk 44 billion; of the amount, Tk 150 billion will come from non-NBR taxes and Tk 460 billion from the NRT sector, and that means the Finance Ministry wants revenue collection to stand at Tk 610 billion or even more.

The NTR sector includes dividend and profit, administrative fees, fines, rent and lease, toll, non-commercial sales, service receipts, capital revenue and tax, as well as other taxes. Non-NBR taxes include narcotics duty, vehicle tax, land revenue, sale of non-judicial stamp and surcharge.

A target has been set in the current fiscal to collect Tk 100 billion from the sale of stamps, Tk 76.76 billion from dividends and profits, Tk 61.14 billion from interest, Tk 19.15 billion from toll and Tk 22.50 billion from land revenue.

Regarding this, Selim Raihan, executive director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), said NTR and non-NBR taxes can be updated to increase revenue, but it must be kept in mind that ease of doing business is not hampered, as well as a digital system must be introduced to maximise the entire process.

Bangladesh still lags behind in tax-GDP ratio, and it is necessary to pay more attention to NBR-controlled income tax and VAT to improve this sector, he added.

* The report, originally published in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo, has been rewritten in English by Shameem Reza and Hasanul Banna