Speakers at a discussion warned of a global tax war and recommended Bangladesh adjust its tax rates accordingly in order to attract more foreign investment.
The discussion was held at the National Board of Revenue office on Tuesday.
Sushmita Basu, head of Bangladesh Tax and Regulatory Practice for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), said: “We have to rely on foreign direct investment to drive economic growth in Bangladesh.”
She also emphasized on the eradication “of the problem of multilayered taxation” which results in multiple taxation of the same dividend by the time it reaches the investor.
Nabila Sajjad, senior consultant of Government Reform and Infrastructure Development (GRID) at PwC, highlighted the importance of infrastructure investment and the utilization of private sector investment in reaching this goal.
The discussants also explained that export performance depends on the domestic incentive system, claiming that this was the reason behind “our domestic market being very small in comparison to the international market.”
Economist Prof Dr Abu Ahmed mentioned that the idea of higher tax rates leading to higher revenue is a myth, adding: “On the contrary, the lower the tax rate, the more transparent companies will be.”
He recommended the lowering of tax rates to attract more companies to be listed in the stock exchange. NBR Chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said NBR would take into consideration all recommendations made by the discussants and implement them wherever possible.