Staff Reporter :
The government kept the scope of whitening untaxed money through unconditional investment in the last budget; it should be stopped, economists said.
They said that the scope is creating inequality in investment and tax system as well as creating an economic bubble in the country.
They passed the remarks while presenting recommendations for the upcoming budget virtually on Thursday. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), economic think tank of the country, organized the webinar.
Speaking at the webinar, Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow of the CPD, said, “The government kept opportunity to whiten undisclosed money in the last budget. But, Bangladesh should come out from the culture as it is conflicting with the tax collection policy.”
“A big number of the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Business Identification Number (BIN) holders are not filing returns every year. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) should force them to submit the returns,” he said.
“Besides, there is a culture in the country to launder money; it should face institutionally to come out from it,” he added.
Dr Mustafizur Rahman, another Research Fellow of the CPD, said, “Around Tk10-12 thousand crore untaxed money has been whitened in the current fiscal year. It is not a big amount. Instead, the opportunity is discouraging the people, who are paying taxes timely.”
“The opportunity of whitening the untaxed money through unconditional investment for helping the economy recover from pandemic shocks, should not be continued anymore,” he opined.
Stating that this scope is creating a big inequality in investment and tax system, he suggested taking steps to bring black money into the mainstream adopting a different way.
Allowing the black-money holders to invest in a sector by paying only a 10 per cent tax creates an economic bubble. They spend much higher than general investors.
Noting that this is a way to discourage taxpayers, he said, it is more expensive to pay taxes rather than whitening untaxed money by paying a minimal amount in tax.
In the current fiscal year, the government has given the scope for investing black money in several sectors, including the capital market and the real estate sector.
According to the NBR, 7,445 people have whitened their undisclosed incomes amounting to around Tk10,220 crore in the first six months – the first in the history of the country. The revenue board receipt around Tk 950 crore as tax from the investment.
Most of the undisclosed money has been invested in the country’s real estate sector and stock markets.
