It is extremely disheartening to learn that, despite the installation of VAT machines being mandatory for the last decade and a half, not even 20,000 machines have been installed across Bangladesh so far.
This is yet another example of our broken tax collection procedure; while experts repeatedly say that prioritizing the installation of electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) in all businesses across Bangladesh could significantly boost the government's VAT collection efforts, our failure to do so tells us how far removed we are from taking steps that actually make a positive impact on our revenue collection.
While we are told that the NBR was planning to launch 60,000 more EFDs in the current financial year and another 300,000 in the next five, such claims do not inspire confidence, given the track record.
Our tax culture has never been one that we can take pride in, and it is a shame that, year in and year out, it is honest taxpayers who receive the brunt of the harassment from the tax authorities while powerful businesses and entities get away without paying anything, as a result depriving the national coffers of insurmountable revenue.
Of all the issues plaguing Bangladesh that delay our progress as a nation and stop us from reaching our full potential, there is arguably none more contentious than the issue of tax collection. With that said, Bangladesh will never reach the heights it aspires to reach without fixing this broken taxation system, one where the everyday Bangladeshi taxpayer suffers, while corrupt and powerful entities cheat the system and the nation.