MEDIA reports said that the government aims at trebling the number of regular taxpayers to 40 lakh by 2019 raising the proportion of direct taxes as the biggest source of revenue. Reports in the national dailies quoted Finance Minister AMA Muhith as saying at a certificate award ceremony to best taxpayers at a local hotel in the city that it may be an ambitious plan but the government will do everything to achieve it.
The Finance Minister’s move appears quite justified as he said the size of the budget has hit around three trillion taka and new sources of revenue is essential to finance the budget. At present around 12 lakh people submit the tax returns out of the 17 lakh people who have taxpayer identification numbers. It is less 1 percent of the country’s total population of 16 crore, he said terming it a shame. He aims at collecting more than half of government revenue through direct taxes by 2021-22.
The policy outlines that the Finance Minister made is on the right track because as the economy is now steadily growing and the people’s income level is also rising. In this situation the reliance on direct income tax as the source of government revenue must slowly replace the indirect tax; which is now dominating the system and overloading business and other utility services. People also believe that with the increasing number of taxpayers, the rate of tax may also be reduced or staggered to let more people to share the load of government revenue instead of realizing more tax from a narrow tax base.
As it appears the government is relentlessly trying to popularize the income tax payment by holding annual tax fair in the capital and the Divisional Headquarters and District towns. This year the tax fair is in progress this time and it may even cover 86 Upazila headquarters while mobile publicity to popularize tax payment may take place in as many other Upazilas throughout the country. The efforts are commendable. The fact is that once people will learn how to prepare income tax returns and where to present it, people will not require to go to a tax lawyer and their reluctance to become taxpayers will slowly go.
But the question is about the quality of the government expenditure. The Finance Minister has said with more funds in hand, the government will be able to provide more services to the people. But the reality is that most public money is misused and misappropriated by a corrupt and inept bureaucracy and dishonest people in the political establishments. Corruption is eating away the growth potentials while some people are getting rich overnight. We hope that the Finance Minister’s revenue target will be achieved but he has to make sure that public money must be protected and put to use for public good.
The Finance Minister’s move appears quite justified as he said the size of the budget has hit around three trillion taka and new sources of revenue is essential to finance the budget. At present around 12 lakh people submit the tax returns out of the 17 lakh people who have taxpayer identification numbers. It is less 1 percent of the country’s total population of 16 crore, he said terming it a shame. He aims at collecting more than half of government revenue through direct taxes by 2021-22.
The policy outlines that the Finance Minister made is on the right track because as the economy is now steadily growing and the people’s income level is also rising. In this situation the reliance on direct income tax as the source of government revenue must slowly replace the indirect tax; which is now dominating the system and overloading business and other utility services. People also believe that with the increasing number of taxpayers, the rate of tax may also be reduced or staggered to let more people to share the load of government revenue instead of realizing more tax from a narrow tax base.
As it appears the government is relentlessly trying to popularize the income tax payment by holding annual tax fair in the capital and the Divisional Headquarters and District towns. This year the tax fair is in progress this time and it may even cover 86 Upazila headquarters while mobile publicity to popularize tax payment may take place in as many other Upazilas throughout the country. The efforts are commendable. The fact is that once people will learn how to prepare income tax returns and where to present it, people will not require to go to a tax lawyer and their reluctance to become taxpayers will slowly go.
But the question is about the quality of the government expenditure. The Finance Minister has said with more funds in hand, the government will be able to provide more services to the people. But the reality is that most public money is misused and misappropriated by a corrupt and inept bureaucracy and dishonest people in the political establishments. Corruption is eating away the growth potentials while some people are getting rich overnight. We hope that the Finance Minister’s revenue target will be achieved but he has to make sure that public money must be protected and put to use for public good.
