Editorial
A matter of rights with obligations
Let our lawmakers pay taxes
There is something self-evident about the way a modern state conducts itself. It is that all citizens are equal before the law and, being equal, they enjoy all the amenities the state has to give them. At the same time, the state enjoins upon them all the responsibilities they must carry out in order for the state to work well. A particular responsibility of citizens is a payment of taxes. In Bangladesh, any citizen who earns more than Tk. 1,62,000 a year must pay taxes. In these last few years, a concerted drive has been made to convince citizens that they must not avoid such payment, that indeed it is a moral and legal duty to cough up the taxes their earnings make mandatory for them. While the system is yet to be perfect and foolproof, we notice that the culture of giving something back to the state is a lesson the larger body of citizens has been learning happily.
That brings us to the issue of why, in all this talk of equal rights and equal responsibilities, our lawmakers must stay away from a payment of taxes. As a report in a local newspaper has shown so graphically, Members of Parliament in Bangladesh have refrained from paying taxes where every other section of society must pay those very taxes without fail. An MP belonging to the ruling party has tried to explain the matter away, rather unconvincingly. He thinks an MP does not get a salary but an honorarium, meaning taxes are not for him. On the other hand, another lawmaker, this time from the opposition, argues that like every other citizen an MP must pay his dues to the state.
Look at the figures, for they certainly make the case for an MP to pay taxes. Every month a lawmaker earns Tk. 99,000 as salary and allowances. On the other hand, a secretary to the government or an official of similar rank earns Tk. 63,000 a month, which again is taxable. Annually, with all his salary and allowances, a lawmaker earns Tk.11,97,600. And yet the MP does not have to pay taxes. Something is wrong in such a system.
The wrong comes in the knowledge that it is the responsibility of Members of Parliament to formulate laws which must be equally applicable to all. In the present situation, it is clear that MPs, while decreeing laws and rules for other citizens, have kept themselves free of the responsibility of paying taxes. That is as unfair as it is unacceptable in a modern state. Even in neighbouring India lawmakers must pay income tax, though their other perks and privileges remain tax-free. Conditions are similar in other countries as well. That being the reality, it is time for the government, indeed for the Jatiyo Sangsad, to ensure that income tax is imposed on lawmakers' earnings as well. On the moral plane, if citizens can pay taxes despite all the difficulties they face in everyday life, in coming by essential items of daily consumption, indeed in living honest lives, it does not make sense for our lawmakers to keep themselves away from paying income tax.
Governance is a matter of setting moral standards for everyone to uphold. It begins at the top. That being the truth, let our MPs correct the situation and convince the people of Bangladesh that lawmakers are not and cannot be above the law. Let them begin paying their dues to the republic.
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