Only 60,000 firms pay VAT regularly out of nearly 700,000 companies that signed up to pay the tax — a number that disappoints Finance Minister AMA Muhith. “Do we have only 60,000 firms eligible to pay VAT? I don’t think so,” Muhith said at a programme to honour top VAT-paying firms yesterday. The number of firms that should pay value-added tax should be 3-6 lakh, he said. “We have such misfortunes in almost all areas,” he said, adding that only 11 lakh people pay tax out of the country’s 15 crore population. “This is the biggest challenge for widening the tax net.” Muhith told the programme where nine firms at the national level and 23 from Dhaka division were given crests and certificates.
The National Board of Revenue organised the event at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre as part of the VAT Week that began on Friday. The revenue authority has been observing the VAT Week since 2011 to create awareness. ADVERTISEMENT VAT, the second biggest source of revenue for the government after income tax, accounted for 36 percent of the total revenue of Tk 136,266 crore last fiscal year, according to provisional data. The revenue authority aims to collect Tk 64,263 crore in VAT in the current fiscal year, a rise by 32 percent year-on-year. Muhith said, “VAT is a good kind of tax for businesses if they maintain accounts properly.” Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry, also expressed dissatisfaction over poor tax collection. “We have such a culture in our country that none wants to pay tax,” said Razzaque, also a former food minister. “I had a colleague in parliament who, until 2009, did not know what TIN [taxpayer identification number] was.” He said there are many people in Dhaka who own more than half a dozen of flats but their incomes are not reflected in tax returns. Many doctors, engineers and professionals do not pay tax properly, he added. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed asked NBR officials not to harass taxpayers. Abdul Matlub Ahmad, president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, urged the government to revise the new VAT law by incorporating the recommendations placed by a review committee earlier. Moshiur Rahman, the prime minister’s economic affairs adviser, also spoke.
