Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday proposed extending tax facilities to some sectors and withdrawing facilities from some other sectors in his budget speech for the financial year 2024鈥�25.
The duty measures in the budget might increase or decrease the prices of some of the items.
Ice cream, carbonated beverages, mobile phone calls, SIM cards, refrigerators, and air conditioners are among the items to become more expensive following the announcement of new tax measures by the finance minister.
Laptops, milk powder, dengue test kits, and kidney dialysis kits are among the items to be cheaper following the announcement of new tax measures.
The products and services that are likely to be costlier are as follows:
Ice Cream
Ten per cent supplementary duty on all kinds of ice cream instead of the existing rate of 5 per cent has been proposed.
Carbonated Beverage
Thirty per cent supplementary duty on carbonated beverages instead of the existing 25 per cent has been proposed.
Cigarette
Supplementary duty on cigarettes containing tobacco products has been proposed at 66 per cent instead of 65 per cent.
SIM Card
Twenty per cent supplementary duty only on SIM/RUIM card-enabled mobile telecom services instead of the existing 15 per cent has been proposed. Besides, a fixed Tk 300 as VAT for the supply of each SIM/e SIM card instead of the existing Tk 200 has been proposed.
Juice
Fifteen per cent VAT at the local manufacturing stage on mango bars, mango juice, pineapple juice, guava juice, and tamarind juice has been proposed instead of 5 per cent.
Energy-saving bulbs, tube light
Fifteen per cent VAT has been proposed instead of 5 per cent on energy-saving bulbs ranging from 1 to 50 watts and tube lights ranging from 18 to 36 watts.
Air Conditioners
A 7.5 per cent value-added tax on air conditioners at the local manufacturing stage has been proposed, withdrawing tax exemption.
Refrigerators
For the production of refrigerators and freezers, 7.5 per cent VAT has been proposed instead of 5 per cent at the local manufacturing stage.
Motorcycle
Ten per cent Customs Duty will be imposed on raw materials for motorcycles with an engine capacity exceeding 250 CCs imported by the relevant category of the industry. An increase in existing import duty from 5 per cent to 15 per cent against related motorcycle engine parts in the Bangladesh Customs Tariff has also been proposed.
Water Purifiers
To support the local industry, an import duty for water purifiers has been proposed from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
Bricks
The specific tax for non-machine-made normal bricks has been increased from the existing Tk 450 to Tk 500 per thousand.
Amusement Park
Fifteen per cent VAT on the service of 鈥楢musement Park and Theme Park鈥� instead of the existing rate of 7.5 per cent has been proposed.
Security Service
Fifteen per cent VAT on the service of 鈥楽ecurity Service鈥� instead of the existing rate of 10 per cent has been proposed.
Tour Operator
VAT exemption from the tour operator service has been withdrawn.
SIM/RUIM card
The finance minister proposed to fix Tk 300 as Value Added Tax for the supply of each SIM/e SIM card instead of the existing VAT amount of Tk 200.
Mobile calls and internet
Supplementary duty only upon SIM/RUIM card-enabled mobile telecom service has been proposed to increase to 20 per cent from the existing 15 per cent.聽 The products and services that are likely to be cheaper are as follows:
Laptop
Customs Duty on laptop imports has been proposed to increase from 5 per cent to 10 per cent. However, the 15 per cent VAT applicable at the import stage has been waived. This will reduce the total tax incidence from 31 per cent to 20.50 per cent.
Milk Powder
Local packers are enjoying an unreasonable amount of protection as the difference in total duty on the import of milk powder in packs up to 2.5 kilograms and the import in bulk form is very high. As part of tariff rationalisation, it has been proposed to withdraw the existing 20 per cent supplementary duty on packed powdered milk up to 2.5 kilograms.
Dengue Kit
For the past few years, dengue outbreaks have often been seen in the country, and the situation is reaching an alarming level every year. Therefore, the finance minister proposed to issue a new notification in the budget for the financial year 2024鈥�25 to import dengue kits at concessional facilities.
Kidney Dialysis
The dialysis filter and dialysis circuit are two essential components used in the dialysis of kidney patients. In the budget, the finance minister proposed to reduce the existing import duty from 10 per cent to 1 per cent on the import of these two products.
Synthetic Fabric
Purified terephthalic acid and mono-ethylene glycol, the raw materials of polyester (synthetic) staple fibre and pet chips used in the textile industry. The finance minister proposed to withdraw 25 per cent customs duty on purified terephthalic acid and 10 per cent on mono-ethylene glycol.
Local Carpet
To support the local carpet manufacturing industry, the finance minister proposed to reduce the import duty on polypropylene yarn from 10 per cent to 5 per cent. Polypropylene yarn is one of the main raw materials in this industry.