Former NBR chairman Muhammad Abdul Majid said this time under the current interim government is a great opportunity for the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to rectify all its collection errors and issues.
“Of course, this is an opportunity for the NBR, this is an opportunity for all the people of the country. The sacrifice of so much blood is not a tiny matter at all, they fought for a cause, the cause is transparency, justice, accountability and good governance,” he said.
Abdul Majid, who was appointed as the NBR chairman in October 22, 2007 during the then caretaker government, said that NBR knows everything regarding the matter of untapped revenue.
“But it did not act properly or was not allowed to act properly. Usually during this type of interim government they can do it,” he said.
He thinks that the NBR could get the opportunity to work freely to achieve its revenue target during this interim government period.
“If they (NBR) utilize the opportunity properly, then their revenue collection will shoot up,” he said.
He said that in the 2007-08 fiscal year while he was the NBR chairman and caretaker government was in power, that time the revenue collection target was Tk37,000 crore but NBR collected Tk 47,000 crore. And it was the first time NBR could surpass its target.
“Because NBR could act freely as per its rules and regulations,” he added.
He said that NBR now also can surpass the target if it takes it as a challenge.
“Question is whether they would get the chance to do that. For this everyone in NBR needs to be united and work hard. If NBR during the interim period wants to apply its tools as per the rules and regulations then it will be able to touch the target,” he said.
Majid, whose tenure ended as NBR chief on April 4, 2009, alleged that revenue is there in the economy but the NBR was not allowed to collect. “If the revenue which is still in the economy can be collected, then the target will be fulfilled.”
Responding to a question, the former revenue collecting chief said that there is no reason to suffer a setback for revenue collection for the NBR for the turmoil in the last one and a half month.
“If there was no business or less business, the impact of this will be seen in the tax file of the next fiscal. This is not the matter of this time.”
He said that the import activities had more or less stopped during the last couple of months, so it would not have an impact on customs duties.
“So I think that there is no reason to have a big setback for the NBR in revenue collection due to this turmoil.”
Regarding the revenue collection target of Tk480,000 crore for the running 2024-25 fiscal, he said that the target is correctly fixed in the budget.
“The NBR should be given a higher target.”
He mentioned that the practice during the last 15 years or during the tenure of any political government had given targets but did not fix the economy. As a result, NBR failed to achieve its target, he added.
Apart from this, in the last 15 years the Awami League- led government did not initiate reforms to help the economy.
“If the wellness and purity of the economy can be ensured during this interim government, it would not be a problem for the NBR.”
He said that during the caretaker or interim government it is easy to repair the economy by removing all irregularities and corruption.
In this connection he mentioned the NBR order seeking details of the bank accounts and other financial details of five business tycoons of the country by the NBR.
The NBR on Thursday asked banks to provide account details of the chiefs of five business giants to scrutinize their tax compliance.
The revenue authority's Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) sought the details of Vice-Chairman of Beximco Salman F Rahman, Chairman of Nassa Group Nazrul Islam Mazumder, Chairman of Summit Group Mohammed Aziz Khan, Chairman of Bashundhara Group Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, and Chairman of Orion Group Mohammad Obaidul Karim.
The NBR sought information of deposits, savings accounts, current accounts, loan accounts, foreign currency accounts, credit cards, lockers and vaults owned by the tycoons and their family members from July 1, 2015.
“It only happened as the non-partisan interim government is in power” Majid said.
He also said, “NBR used to listen to the sermons coming from ‘Kashim Bazar Kuthir’ that resulted in a shortfall of revenue collection.”
He also pointed out that NBR officials had to obey one business leader’s orders during the previous AL government.
