Speakers at a discussion here on Wednesday on the new law of Value Added Tax (VAT) and supplementary duty (SD) urged the government to simplify the laws and rules, and exempt three essential items – food, education and health – from the tax regime.
State Minister for Finance Abdul Mannan, who was present at the seminar organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a city hotel, supported the idea of keeping the low income consumer groups’ essential food items from the tax regime.
“The government’s all documents should be transparent and simple to understand,” he told the seminar, reports UNB.
CPD distinguished fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya spoke at the function moderated by its executive director Dr Mustafizur Rahman.
CPD fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan and Zafar Sadique made a presentation on the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act 2012 at the seminar.
Former caretaker government adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam suggested reducing the VAT rate from the existing 15% to below 10%. “In most countries, VAT rate is below 10%,” he said, adding that the tax net should be more widened.
“This is the right time to reduce the VAT rate,” he said, criticising the existing law allowing the authorities to freeze the bank accounts for any excuse.
FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin alleged that in most cases the suggestions placed by the business community over the tax and duty are not found reflected when the respective policy is formulated.
He, however, said the present government is very business-friendly and they take decision in consultation with the government.
Former NBR chairman Kazi Abdul Majid said the VAT and income tax law should be seen from a holistic point of view and every law should be prepared with a view to making it implementable.
Economist Ahsan Monsur said that there is a huge gap between the GDP and tax ratio which must be reduced through increasing the income from VAT and taxes.
He also suggested increasing the number of income taxpayers, saying this unacceptable that only 1.5 million people pay the income tax.
Ali Zaman, a leader of SME Association, said owners of small enterprises are in real trouble as they have to pay huge taxes without getting any benefit as they buy their raw materials from local market without getting the chance to import it directly from abroad.
A representative of Supro, an NGO, said this is unfortunate that the government and businessmen discuss a matter and enact the law without thinking the interest of the mass people into account.
