Our tax culture has been in a deadlock, which has led to a tax net that has remained decidedly emaciated and static for a long time now. And it all makes sense.
When it comes to paying taxes, there is a distinct lack of transparency in how our hard-earned money is being spent by the government, which is why the complete erosion of trust in the tax system is nothing if not justified.
And how has the administration tried to make up for this lack of revenue? By increasing the amount of indirect taxes that we all have to pay. This is a troubling phenomenon, as indirect taxes are furthering the already wide income inequality in our country as it places an inordinate amount of the burden on lower income groups.
The very idea behind taxes is that everyone pays in accordance of their means so that the nation can achieve its economic ambitions, and given that Bangladesh's medium term ambitions are to become a middle-income nation clearly the current tax net, and reliance upon indirect taxes, simply will not do.
Changes are in order.
And it all starts with the administration restoring public faith into our tax system. Financial transparency is an important component of a democracy, unless we know how our money is being spent by the government there is little reason for us to trust it.
Which leads us to the way we pay taxes -- the existing system, despite some mild modernization, still requires a level of arcane knowledge that the average tax-payer finds daunting. Steps need to be made to make the process itself more accommodating, not to mention rooting out the expected levels of bureaucracy and corruption endemic to the system.
A nation's growth is only as sustainable as its tax system allows it to be. Let's not wait any longer.
