Development specialists have urged the government to be vocal on setting up a new United Nations body on tax management, and raise the issue at an upcoming UN conference at Addis Ababa.
The government should table the issue of money laundering and tax dodging at the conference and discuss on establishing a common UN tax body, speakers said yesterday at a seminar organised by Equitybd, an alliance of several NGOs.
The third international conference on financing for development will take place during July 13-16 in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Addressing the seminar at the National Press Club, Equitybd Coordinator Rezaul Karim Chowdhury pointed out that the international tax system currently consisted a complicated web of thousands of bilateral tax treaties and different parallel international systems such as information exchange and corporate reporting.
“Negotiation of a globally agreed system is the only way to remove the complexity, confusion, inconsistency and mismatches that exist today. A global tax body is a crucial first step to prevent money laundering and tax dodging” he added.
Also speaking at the event, Dhaka University teacher Prof Abu Ahmed said: “These issues are very important but the government seems reluctant as usual.”
Others who addressed yesterday’s seminar included Pradip Kumar Roy, secretary of Online Knowledge Society, Manowar Mostafa, representative of Development Synergy Institute, and Sayed Aminul Haque, deputy director of Equitybd.
