Local merchant banks have proposed reducing the corporate tax rate to 15% for listed companies in the next national budget.
Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) made the proposals through a letter sent to the chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Wednesday.
As per existing rules, the listed companies, other than the banks, insurers, financial institutions, tobacco companies and telecom operators pay corporate tax at a rate of 22.5%.
The BMBA said the reduction of corporate tax to 15% for the listed companies will encourage many more companies to go public and the government's revenue income will also be enhanced.
The BMBA has also made the proposal of setting corporate tax at 25% for the merchant bankers instead of 37.5% to facilitate their operations.
Currently stockbrokers and asset management companies pay corporate tax at the rate of 30% and 15% respectively.
The association has urged the revenue board to consider their advance income tax (AIT), which is imposed on dividends, as a final settlement to avoid double taxation.
The merchant bankers made another proposal of fixing uniform VAT rate for the listed and non-listed companies as the latest ones are availing different facilities without offloading shares.