Staff Reporter :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is scrutinising a request of the Power Division of the Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry for exemption source tax to curb electricity price hike.
Earlier, the Power Division of the ministry sent a letter to the NBR Chairman seeking exemption source tax at power distribution stage.
In the letter, the Power Division said the Power Development Board (PDB) deducts 6 per cent source tax when it buys electricity from the public and private companies.
But, if the source tax is deducted at distribution stage again, there is no other option, but to increase electricity price, the letter said.
So, the Power Division requested the NBR chairman to take necessary steps to exempt source tax at the distribution stage.
An NBR official said that the country’s tax authority is now examining the proposal of PDB. It will take a decision in this regard after proper scrutiny.
PDB sources said as a subsidised and non-profitable company, the PDB is incurring loses every year and the loss has reached Tk 62,000 crore till the 2019-20 financial year.
The NBR has introduced source tax at distribution stage from this year.
If the source tax is deducted twice, there is no other option, but to increase the electricity price, PDB sources said.
They said, as a service sector, electricity is being sold at the price fixed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) without any profit and the PDB received a subsidy worth of Tk 11,700 crore from the government last year. This year it could cross Tk 16,000 crore.
Besides, the production cost of the PDB is increasing due to the rise in fuel prices. At present the capacity of oil-based power plants is 6,700 MW. It will be difficult topay additional sources tax, they said.
Experts said NBR can expand tax net to increase revenue. But it is not a right decision to impose tax afresh on the existing taxpayers.
Imposition tax twice on the same product is absolutely an illogical decision and it should be exempted, they said.
They also said electricity is an emergency service and if the price of electricity is increased now, the economy with suffer and public life will become more unbearable.
