To check rising income inequality, the government should focus on alternative sources of revenues, including wealth tax, recovery of laundered money, recovery of undisclosed money and tax on foreign citizens, said the Bangladesh Economic Association on Monday.
In its 鈥榓lternative budget proposal 2024-25鈥�, the association said that it emphasised direct tax collection, as indirect tax which was now getting priority, raised inequality.
The BEA announced the alternative budget proposal 2024-25 at a press conference at its office in the capital Dhaka on the day.
The organisation said that recovery of only 0.98 per cent of the accumulated undisclosed money could retrieve Tk聽10,000 crore to the state coffers, and recovering 0.49 per cent of the laundered money could retrieve Tk聽5,000 crore.
BEA general secretary Md Aynul Islam said that the estimated amount of undisclosed money accumulated in Bangladesh in the past 50 years from the financial year 1972-73 to the FY聽2022-23 was Tk聽1,32,53,500 crore.
鈥楾he estimated amount of laundered money from Bangladesh in the past 50 years from the FY 1972-73 to the FY 2022-23 is Tk聽11,92,815 crore,鈥� he said.
In the alternative budget proposal for the forthcoming financial year 2024-25, the BEA recommends recovery of laundered money and undisclosed money, Aynul said.
The association in the press conference proposed an alternative budget estimated at Tk聽11,95,486 crore for the next financial year 2024-25, which is 1.57 times higher than the government鈥檚 budget in the running financial year.
According to the association, implementation of the proposed alternative budget is not impossible if there is good governance.
Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, president of the BEA, said that while the government claimed to have a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, corruption remained widespread and deeply rooted.
Kholiquzzaman pointed out that income inequality worsened significantly, with the Gini coefficient rising from 0.45 in 2010 to 0.50 in 2022, which was very concerning.
He urged for the formation of a separate commission to stop corruption, money laundering and recovery of undisclosed money as well as to establish good governance.
The BEA president also focused on the ongoing issues such as poor governance in the banking sector, a high amount of defaulted loans and instability in both public and private banks.
