Md. Shafiqul Islam :
Bangladesh is going through a critical time due to the pandemic of Covud-19 like the rest of the world. In its second wave, trade and local industry have once again come to a standstill. The government should be increasing funding in the coming financial year to address health risks, ensure food security for marginalized and low-income people in the face of adverse economic conditions, sustain small businesses and mobilize the agricultural sector. At the same time, it has been recommended to continue the reform program, increase tax collection from the rich to keep the revenue collection in order and continue the incentives given to the business. Many researchers highlighted the need to focus on government spending in the next budget, mobilize resources, and meet the budget deficit.
Because of the implementation of the current financial year, the budget for the next financial year needs to be made keeping in view the impact of the Covid-19 on the socio-economic sector, and the corona will last for a few more years. The agricultural sector was effective and dynamic in the current financial year. The external sector did not go well without remittances. The implementation of the annual development program has slowed down. In this situation, the budget for the next financial year should be expansionary. I suggested allocating 5-7 per cent of GDP to social safety and security issues.
For revenue targets, importance should be given in some specific places. First of all, we have to make sure that the target should be pragmatic. The non-tax sectors from which revenue collection has increased need to be cleared. Weaknesses found during tax collection need to be addressed. The tax administration should take proper steps to increase the number of tax officials and arrange good training programs for enhancing the skills of current tax officials, revise tax rules and procedures in a more convenient way for increasing the understandability level of taxpayers, allow more time for paying tax liability, restructuring of tax slaps for tax liability calculations, create public awareness for paying taxes. Finally, reform the taxation system and tax administration capacity for changing the overall negative perceptions of taxpayers towards taxation systems and the tax administration for tax revenue collection in the forthcoming budget.
Traders need to be informed about the short-term tax benefits. There are many tax collection opportunities. For this, the tendency and path of tax evasion have to be stopped. Corruption must be prevented. For the business aspects, the budget should be prepared to keep Corona medicines and other items duty-free and reduce the cost of the internet because most of the universities are running online classes for the students. Government should take practical steps to stop money laundering opportunities, ensure return filing for TIN holders and tax payment for foreign nationals. Government should focus on foreign funding to meet the budget deficit.
The budget should be made so that Incentives for health workers, farmers, giving incentives to SMEs, VAT exemption for small traders can be ensured. There should be tax benefits on the use of renewable energy in the industrial sector in the budget.
Although the extent of damage in all sectors can be estimated, it is impossible to estimate the loss of human resources, especially in the education sector. In my observations, the impact of the widespread learning deficit among children can be devastating. If proper measures are not taken, the student’s learning ability will decrease in the future, and at the same time, the dropout rate will increase.
The people expect that budget will play a unique role in meeting the basic needs, including health care and education. Once upon a time, the government has made a global commitment to allocate 15pc -20pc of the national budget to education, but in the fiscal year 2020-2021, the government of Bangladesh has allocated 11.69pc to education.
Last year, we learned from various sources that the budget allocation for the education sector in the FY 2020-2021 was about 15pc, which means that the government gave particular importance to human capacity development. However, after the budget announcement, we found that only 11.69pc has been allocated in the education sector, which is 0.0 pc more than the previous year. In other words, considering the inflation and national growth, the budget allocation to the education sector decreased, which shocked us.
As a signatory to UNESCO’s education documents, allocating 20-25 percent of the total budget to the education sector could strengthen the country’s research sector. Bangladesh is one of the few countries where less is allocated in the national budget for education. Neighbouring Nepal, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Afghanistan also spend more on education.
Higher education can play a massive role in sustainable development if more research and teachers conduct quality research accordingly. While universities in other countries are researching to invent test kits or antidotes for coronavirus, Bangladeshi universities have not played a significant role in facing COVID-19. Lack of research equipment and low financial allocation are some of the reasons for this inability. Therefore, I sincerely request the Government to consider this issue separately and allocate a budget separately for education. It is impossible to implement sustainable development without extensive improvement in the quality of research in higher education.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, Mymensingh).
