Daily Star, 26 July 2012
The National Board of Revenue exceeded its target of Tk 92,370 crore for the fiscal 2011-12, recording Tk 94,447 crore in tax receipts.
“We are happy that this is the third year we have registered higher than targeted revenue,” said NBR Chairman Dr Nasiruddin Ahmed at a press meet yesterday.
The revenue collection was 18.95 percent higher than previous fiscal year’s Tk 79,403.11 crore, Ahmed added, thanks to huge growth in value-added and income tax collection.
Over the past decade, NBR has been registering increased tax collection, allowing the government to reduce dependence on foreign finance.
The ratio of tax revenue to GDP, indicator of a country’s strength to finance its expenditures, increased to 10.32 percent in the fiscal 2011-12, from 8.3 percent of fiscal 2002-03’s, according to Bangladesh Economic Review.
“The rising tax collection indicates the dynamism of our economy. Our collection from domestic sources will increase in line with the economic growth,” said Ahmed.
VAT collection from domestic sources soared by 23 percent from previous fiscal year’s Tk 28,023 crore, to Tk 34,458 crore.
Income tax, too, rose by nearly 23 percent from a year ago to Tk 28,261 crore.
However, tax receipts from customs did not fare as well in the face of sluggish growth of international trade.
The NBR Chairman said the declining contribution of taxes from customs might be a trend given the liberalised global trading regime, therefore to counteract, efforts have been stepped up to augment collections from domestic sources.
“The impressive VAT receipts of the last two quarters of the past fiscal year are due to the increased efforts of the officials, such as intensive monitoring and stimulating mass awareness programmes” said the NBR chairman.
Over the past several years, the tax authority has been organising various events, such as VAT Day and income tax fair, to encourage people to pay taxes for the sake of country’s development.
This year, the income tax fair will be held on September 16-22 in Dhaka and large districts simultaneously.
Work is underway to make the tax administration process fully digital to curb tax evasion, he informed.
Digital facilities such as online tax payment and e-filing have already been introduced, the NBR chairman said, hopeful of attaining the 18 percent higher target of Tk 112,259 crore for the fiscal 2012-13.
“We are strengthening ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) system to settle tax-related disputes swiftly,” said Ahmed, adding that the mechanism has been introduced in all income tax zones and VAT commissionerates to boost collections.
Other steps the NBR is undertaking to meet the fiscal year’s target are: increase in manpower, increased monitoring of advanced income tax at source, strengthening audit and intelligence of Central Intelligence Cell to arrest tax-dodging.
Ahmed, also secretary of Internal Resources Division, said taxes on stamps have been raised in the current fiscal, which is expected to bring in over Tk 5,000 crore, doubling that of the past fiscal year.
Bangladesh Economy 
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