The government will once again keep the provision of whitening of black money in the forthcoming national budget in a bid to attract more investment and revenue generation.
“The scope to whiten black money will be there in the upcoming budget also. The scope will be there as long as undisclosed incomes will remain there,” said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal.
The minister disclosed the information at a press briefing after a meeting of the cabinet committee on public purchase on Wednesday.
The government will place a Tk. 6.0 trillion national budget for the fiscal year (FY2021-22) in the parliament on June 03.
Critisizing the governmen’s move to offer fresh tax amnesty on black money in the next budget, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the country’s economy never benefited from this facility in the past nor it helped to collect significant revenue.
In the budget for the fiscal year 2020-21, the government widens the scope of whitening the black money in almost all sectors like stocks, real estate, bank deposits and investment in savings certificates, bonds or any other securities by paying a flat 10 percent tax.
Undisclosed house property can also be legalised by paying a certain amount based on the size and location of the property.
Besides, people will not face any question about the sources of their income while whitening their undisclosed money.
In the first six months of the current fiscal year, 7,445 individuals whitened Tk 10,220 crore by paying Tk 950 crore as tax, according to data from the National Board of Revenue.
Terming the budgetary provision of whitening back money as “unconstitutional,” Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “Allowing people to legalise wealth earned through corrupt means is against the spirit of Article 20(2) of the constitution. It is also contradictory to the Prime Minister’s declaration of zero tolerance to corruption. So I urge the government to backtrack on this move.”
“The provision to legalise black money is a privilege for corrupt people, while it is painful for honest taxpayers. The government’s policy set a bad example in institutionalising corruption instead of removing it from society,” said former Finance Adviser to the Caretaker Government Dr AB Mirza Azizul Islam.
