Bangladesh garment accessories and packaging manufacturers and exporters want corporate tax at 12 per cent in the next fiscal year 2018-19.Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA) will place its proposal on the corporate tax to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at a pre-budget meeting to be held on Wednesday (April 4) in Dhaka.Knitwear and woven manufacturers and exporters pay 12 per cent corporate tax. While, RMG manufacturers, who are certified as green building pay 10 per cent, said the BGAPMEA in the proposal.Despite 100 per cent export oriented industry, the garment accessories and packaging manufacturers are paying 35 per cent corporate tax. It is discriminatory to the sector, the platform said.For the sake of country’s economy and exports, we earnestly urge the government to bring down the tax rate to 12 per cent for the next fiscal year, it added.As a backward linkage industry, we are contributing a lot to the overall export earnings of RMG sector. It is unfortunate that we are not getting recognition of our contribution, said BGAPMEA president Abdul Kader Khan.Considering the sector contribution to employment generation and foreign currency earning, the government should offer equal policy support for us, he added.If the government brings down the corporate tax for the backward linkage industry, the sector will be able to earn more foreign currency, said Kader.However, the platform also called to bring down tax at source to 0.50 per cent instead of 0.70 per cent and consider it as final tax.It also urged the government to provide cash incentives, what the other industry enjoy against its export earning.Besides deemed export, the garment accessories and packaging products manufacturers are exporting their products directly and if the government provides cash incentives against export, the earning will see a jump, said Kader.If the sector gets proper policy support from the government, I think, we will be able to earn $18 billion by 2025, he added.According to data from the Bangladesh Garment Accessories and Packaging Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGAPMEA), the accessory sector earned $6.7 billion in the last fiscal year, of which $1.12 billion came from direct exports.BGAPMEA also urged the government to declare the whole factory area as bonded ware house area as during the inspection the customs authority fine them it founds goods spread in the warehouse area during inspection.As per the export policy, there is no differences between the deemed export earners and direct exporter earners. But it is not followed, depriving the accessories manufacturers of the government support, it claimed.
