Corruption
I inherited a small apartment six years back and I was getting house rent from it. I filed income tax return with the help of an income tax lawyer, though I was not required to pay it after retirement from a non-pension able job 20 years back, as I was surviving from the income of my wife and children. I was familiar with income tax, as I had to pay tax when I joined service in 1962. Since I got that apartment at no cost, the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax continued to raise many objections and ultimately its lawyer settled the issue through underhand deals.
Dhaka City Corporation imposed a higher holding tax since I was not aware about the underhand deals. How the holding tax of DCC could be different when all the 10 flats are equal and identical? Should higher courts issue rule on DCC to explain the reasons of disparity in taxes?
I purchased shares and debentures of many a public limited companies when IPO were issued more than a decade back, but many are non-existent while many could not pay dividends or interests for more than a decade. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulatory body, is just silent when directors and others of those public limited companies are VIPs, lawmakers and so on.
Under the above facts, TIB report of 2010 has not spared us by branding Bangladesh as a champion in corruption. Shouldn't the government be more firm in eradicating corruption as contained in their JS election manifesto?!
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