Female businesses want income up to Tk 5 lakh to be tax-free

Women entrepreneurs today urged the government to set the tax-free income limit for them at Tk 5 lakh.

They also proposed reducing the corporate income tax by 10 percentage points to 20 per cent for businesses owned by women.

The female entrepreneurs placed their demand at a roundtable organised by the Ekattor TV Dhaka Reporters' Unity and the Women and E-Commerce Trust (WE), a platform of women entrepreneurs.

Women entrepreneurs are currently contributing a lot to the economy of Bangladesh, said Nasima Akter Nisha, president of WE.

So, women should get priority in the budget allocations, she said.

There should be allocation in the budget to take up programmes to stop child marriage, said Sayema Haque Bidisha, economics professor of the Dhaka University.

"We are also finding ways on how we can change the negative mindset about working women."

She proposed continuation of the gender budget.

However, the professor said it should be assessed and evaluated properly to see whether the gender budget allocation is bringing any positive change to the society.

The participants of the discussion also proposed cutting the turnover tax for women-led businesses.