The Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (Noab) has demanded a reduction in the existing customs and taxes on the newspaper industry.
The organization also said that the newspaper industry is currently in a major crisis due to rising raw material prices, declining advertising revenue and increasing production costs.
Noab leaders presented these proposals at the pre-budget discussion for FY27 held at the National Board of Revenue (NBR) auditorium in Agargaon on Tuesday (March 31).
NBR chairman Abdur Rahman Khan presided over the meeting.
Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, president of the organization and editor-in-chief of Dainik Manab Zamin, presented the proposals on behalf of Noab.
Prothom Alo Editor Matiur Rahman, Banik Barta Editor and Publisher Dewan Hanif Mahmud, Dainik Sangbad Editor and Publisher Altamash Kabir, and other concerned persons were also present in the discussion.
According to Noab's proposal, 3% import duty, 15% VAT, 5% advance income tax and 7.5% advance tax are currently paid on the import of newsprint, the main raw material of newspapers.
When other costs including transportation are added, the landed cost of paper stands at about 130% to 132%.
Noab says that since the newspaper industry is dependent on imports, an increase in the price of paper directly increases production costs. Six months ago, the price of imported paper was about $560 per tonne, which has now increased to $630.
In this situation, the organization has demanded the withdrawal of customs duty and VAT imposed on newsprint.
Noab said that currently, newspapers have to pay 5% tax at source on advertising income and 5% advance income tax on raw material imports.
But since the total profit of many newspaper organizations is less than 10%, it is becoming difficult to manage this tax burden. In many cases, advance tax cannot be adjusted at the end of the year, resulting in pressure on the organization's cash.
Therefore, the organization has proposed to reduce these two tax rates.
Demand for 10% corporate tax
Noab claims that newspaper organizations currently have to pay 27.5% corporate tax like other commercial organizations.
However, many export-oriented or priority industries have 10% to 12% corporate tax.
Therefore, it has been proposed to reduce the corporate tax of the newspaper industry to 10%.
In addition, Noab demanded that the income tax of newspaper employees be paid by the employees themselves.
The organization says that according to the provisions of the Wage Board, employees have to pay income tax to the organization, which is not applicable to other organizations.
Noab president Matiur Rahman Chowdhury said at the meeting that due to the international situation, fuel oil prices are increasing and there is uncertainty in the supply of fuel in the country. This may further increase the cost of newspaper publishing.
Prothom Alo editor Matiur Rahman said that it costs about Tk28 to publish a copy of a newspaper. But the readership is decreasing and advertising revenue is also decreasing. As a result, a large deficit is being created between income and expenditure.
Bonik Barta editor and publisher Dewan Hanif Mahmud said that tax pressure is being repeatedly increased on institutions within the tax net. There is a need to further verify the tax-GDP ratio.
NBR chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said that the corporate tax of the newspaper industry will not be increased. However, efforts will be made to take rational decisions on other duties and taxes in the next budget.
Representatives of the newspaper industry said that although incentives were given to various industrial sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic, the newspaper industry was not brought under that benefit.
Therefore, there has been a demand for special incentives for this industry in the upcoming budget.
