Finance adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Tuesday said that the tax exception culture enjoyed by industries over the years was due largely to low domestic revenue generation.
鈥楧ays are numbered for enjoying the tax break,鈥� said the finance adviser at a seminar on the occasion of 鈥榁AT Day and VAT Week 2024鈥� organised by the National Board of Revenue at its head office at Agargaon in the capital Dhaka.
The finance adviser said that the local industries were needed to be got rid of tax exemption facility to face the challenges the country鈥檚 graduation from the least developed countries鈥� bloc in 2026 would bring.
Many local export-oriented industries which are now enjoying duty preferences in developed and developing countries may lose the benefit, he said.
The finance adviser was also critical about the tax evasion for which the country鈥檚 tax-GDP ratio has been ridiculed as one of the lowest in the world.
He suggested that tax officials should be friendly to taxpayers.
He called upon all to pay taxes so that the government is able to increase allocation to health and education sectors.
A World Bank report said the county鈥檚 income from value-added tax in 2018-19 could have been at least three times higher than the collection of Tk聽85,000 crore had the government implemented the VAT law properly.
Presided over by NBR chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan, Finance Division secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry administrator Md Hafizur Rahman spoke at the seminar.
The finance secretary said the development partners often raised the issue of low tax-GDP ratio.
The revenue board should conduct strong efforts to augment revenue mobilisation, he said.