The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab) on Sunday suggested that the government should rationalize the registration costs for both land and flats to encourage people to disclose the real prices of their properties.
The registration cost for flats should be reduced to 7% from existing 22%, Rehab president Md Wahiduzzaman said at a post-budget press conference held in the capital on the day.
If the government rationalizes the registration costs for both land and flats, people would be encouraged to disclose the real prices of their properties, thereby reducing the accumulation of undisclosed money, he also said.
The Rehab president further urged the government to reduce the income tax for the realtors and to introduce a secondary market of flats with a minimum registration cost.
He demanded reducing the interest rate of home loans to single digit and to take measures to reduce the cost of construction materials.
Wahiduzzaman, however, appreciated the government for including the provision of legalizing undisclosed money with paying 15% tax in the proposed budget.
This initiative is pragmatic and timely, he said.
He termed the budget partially business-friendly, saying that they raised other issues during the pre-budget discussion, but those were not addressed in the proposed budget.
Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed the proposed budget for the 2024-25 financial year before Jatiya Sangsad in the capital Dhaka on June 6.
According to the proposed budget, no authority can raise any question about the source if a taxpayer pays fixed tax rates for immovable properties like flats, apartments and land and 15% tax on other resources, including cash.
Rehab Vice-Presidents MA Awal, Mohammed Akter Biswas, Abdur Razzaque and Delower Hossain and director Md Labib Billah, among others, were present in the press conference.
