Editorial
Expanding tax base
A good move getting underway
Two major impediments to internal resource mobilisation in our context have been that there could be many having the potential to pay taxes remain outside the dragnet and those that are listed as tax-payers evade payment of taxes.
It simply defies comprehension that in a country as populous as 150 million we have eight hundred thousand tax-payers only. The fact that head-count of Tax Identification Number (TIN) holders is 2.2 million and that of tax-payers is even less than one million is itself a big discrepancy, let alone collusive big evasion scandals and a huge number suspected to have had taxable incomes that await assessment and filing of returns.
In other forms of tax collection like that of import, sale, gain, land, Vat etc, a good deal of effort is usually made but insofar as income tax goes no serious move has yet been taken to expand the base. Against such a backdrop, it is cheery news that the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is set to launch from February 8, a three-month long survey to identify new tax-payers in Dhaka and its adjoining areas with the help of university students. Nothing could be a better utilisation of educated youth power than harnessing it in the national service like finding new tax-payers thereby helping to expand the country's abysmally poor tax base. Let this flag off their involvement in leisure time in other important areas of national life.
We take note of the fact that the Department for International Development of United Kingdom which has a way of putting money where it is most needed is funding the project that will pay a monthly salary of Tk 10,000 to each student taking part in the survey. On the basis of how it goes, and what dividends it brings, the survey will be replicated countrywide, down to the upazila level. This sounds very exciting. For just like in the case of small farmers who have the best record of repayment of agricultural loans so also we believe there is sizeable number out there who with a little bit of sensitisation and persuasion would come out of the shell to pay taxes.
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