The third day of the National Income Tax Fair drew record number of crowds yesterday, but tax collection was around 50% less than the previous day.
With Friday being a holiday, a large number of people found time to visit the fair. At the end of the day, authorities concerned said they had served 119,873 people across the country – which was the highest for a single day since the fair started on Wednesday.
However, the amount of revenue collected from the fair dropped significantly as the NBR yesterday bagged only Tk223.6 crore, less than half of Thursday’s Tk526.78 crore collection. This was a result of fewer income tax returns being submitted yesterday, NBR officials said.
A total 18,106 taxpayers filed their returns in the fair held at seven divisional headquarters, 53 districts, and nine upazilas yesterday.
According to the National Board of Revenue, the first three days of the fair brought in Tk90,358 crore from income tax returns of 50,322 taxpayers, while a total of 282,277 people received different services at the fair venues across the country.
Meanwhile, several members of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts visited the fair venue in Dhaka’s Officers Club yesterday.
The committee Chairman Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir expressed hopes that the fair would reduce the distance between taxmen and taxpayers.
Committee member Moin Uddin Khan Badal urged tax officials to monitor whether lawmakers were properly paying their own taxes.
Lawmaker Rustom Ali Farazi said: “If tax are paid properly, we will be able to meet the revenue target and there will be no need to seek fund from the foreign donors then.”
Educationist Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said people should realise their responsibilities as citizens and voluntarily pay taxes.
The NBR will keep the fair open today from 10am to 8pm to facilitate service-holders filing their income tax returns properly. However, the schedule will be 10am to 5pm for the following three days.
Taxpayers throng fair in Ctg
Much like Dhaka, the Friday holiday brought in massive crowds to the Income Tax Fair in the port city.
More than 50 booths under four tax zones of Chittagong Tax Department, different banks and other services continued to serve the overwhelming crowds throughout the day, our Chittagong correspondent reports.
Kazi Emdadul Haque, commissioner (appeal) for the Chittagong tax region and also the convener of the Chittagong fair, said they expected the collection to be more than the previous years as the presence of visitors was remarkable.
“The target of the fair is not only to collect taxes, but also to grow awareness among the taxpayers and provide service to them,” he added.
The first three days of the fair in Chittagong has brought in Tk142.76 crore of income tax, while the regional target is Tk8,000 crore for the ongoing fiscal year.
The fair organisers said a total 87,741 people were provided different facilities during the first three days at the fair venue in Agrabad’s Government Offices Building 2. The fair is open for visitors from 10am to 6pm every day.
This year, income tax fair is also being held at Cox’s Bazar district for four days under the supervision of Chittagong Income Taxation Department, while two-day-long fairs are being held at Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari districts.
Social media dialogue today
The NBR is set to organise a social media dialogue to mark the Income Tax Fair 2015 today with the theme “encouraging people to pay tax.”
The dialogue will start at 7pm in Dhaka’s Officers Club premises and will continue until 8:30pm.
Junaid Ahmed Palak, the state minister for information and communication technology, will attend the dialogue as chief guest. It will be chaired by NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman.
Other guests will include Post and Telecom Secretary Foizur Rahman Chowdhury, ICT Division Secretary Shyam Sunder Sikder, Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Managing Director Hosne Ara Begum, Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, and ICT expert Mostafa Jabbar.
