Kazi Zahidul Hasan :The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will face formidable challenge in achieving the revenue collection target set in the proposed budget for the fiscal 2015-16, mainly due to the prevailing smaller tax base and lack of structural reforms in tax policies, said a former NBR chairman. “The revenue collection target is highly ambitious and it will be hard for the NBR to achieve it,” MA Mazid, former NBR chairman told The New Nation on Sunday.He said, the prevailing fiscal framework and capacity of the NBR do not favour to earn such a huge amount of revenue projected in the proposed budget.In the proposed budget, the revenue collection target is Tk 2.08 trillion of which the share of the NBR amounts to Tk 1.76 trillion. “The proposed target is 30.62 per cent higher compared with the outgoing budget and it (target) does not contest with the revenue earnings of the last few years,” he said. It might have been 10 to 12 percent higher.The former NBR chairman further said, the target has been set ignoring the ground reality of Bangladesh economy and the capacity of the NBR. “Achievement of such a high revenue growth depends on a stable political and business environment as well as economic and institutional reforms. An uncertainty is still prevailing in the country’s political arena and we are yet to enhance efficiency in the government’s agencies bringing reforms there. These will also create hindrance on the NBR’s revenue collection in the next fiscal,” he said.Referring to the Finance Minister’s budget speech, M A Mazid said, the Minister made proposals to cut corporate tax rates, offered tax exemptions to some new sectors and raised minimum taxable income ceiling for the individual tax-payers. “Such measures will also help cut the government’s revenue from these sectors, posing further challenge to NBR to achieve the target,” he noted. MA Mazid further said that there was urgent need to bring necessary reforms in the tax policies to increase the number of tax payee under the tax net as well as broaden the government’s revenue base. “But no clear vision has been visible in the proposed budget to do the task,” he added. He also observed that the contribution from non-NBR revenue had been decreased vigorously during the last two financial years, and a soft target had been given for the next year too. He also suggested for taking effective initiatives to make direct tax as the principal source of revenue. “If it happens, it will ensure socio-economic development and society based equity and justice,” he added.
