To say that our tax culture needs to change at this point would be a gross understatement; for decades, it has been among the biggest issues of the country, one that fails to see any meaningful reform year in year out.
While the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has brought in automation to increase revenue collection and specifically to reduce the harassment faced by everyday taxpayers, it comes as no surprise that in reality, none of those objectives are being achieved.
While automation is the future of financial services, and taxation is no different on that front, what is required is automation done sensibly and sustainably, and simultaneously ensuring that they do not alienate taxpayers further.
Furthermore, the issue of harassment must be addressed; the majority of Bangladeshis want to pay their taxes, but the quagmire that is the actual system, coupled with the harassment they face from the tax authorities, makes the entire ordeal even more unpleasant than it already is.
In the midst of all of this is our ever-present culture of impunity, where certain powerful entities continue to rob the nation of millions by evading taxes or finding some other loophole in an admittedly less-than-robust system to minimize that payment.
Bangladesh talks about its grand plans of being a developed, prosperous nation in less than two decades. Yet, our present is still a nation that can’t even fix its taxation system, and one that still harasses the average citizen for tax revenue while letting the entitled enjoy impunity at a level difficult to comprehend.
With that in mind, we need some serious changes if we want to come close to achieving such goals.