Thrust on effective implementation of budgetary policies

The government should carry on post-budget assessment on some new policies made in the budget every year to reduce revenue deficit for sustainable revenue collection.

Because meeting revenue collection target of the government will be hampered if policy changes do not work effectively.

President of Foreign Investors' Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Shehzad Munim made the observation at a roundtable at a city hotel recently, says a statement.

Ahead of the budget of 2019-2020 fiscal year, the Daily Samakal organised the meeting, styled 'Sustainable revenue collection: our position'. Samakal Acting Editor Mustafiz Shafi moderated the event.

Shehzad Munim also said: "It is noticed in all the countries of the world that the law-enforcement agencies can unearth only 10 per cent of the tax evasion incidents."

"Exemplary punishment should be handed out to illegal business doers so that everyone can understand that tax evaders cannot be spared from punishment," he added.

Additional Commissioner (Large Taxpayer Unit) of National Board of Revenue Mohammad Shafi Uddin, Chief Operating Officer of International Gateway (IGW) Operators Forum Mushfiq Manzur, Vice President Abdus Salam, Bangladesh Cigarette Manufacturers Association (BCMA) spokesman Shaikh Sabab Ahmed, RAB Executive Magistrate Mohammad Sarwar Alam and CID Special Police Super Molla Nazrul Islam were also present and spoke.

In his speech, Mushfiq Manzur said the government has earned Tk 35 billion (Tk 3,500 crore) revenue in VoIP sector from 2015 till February this year.

"If there was no illegal VoIP, this revenue would have been much more," he added.

Sabab Ahmed said about 10 per cent of the government's revenue comes from the tobacco sector. In the last nine months, the government targeted to collect Tk 200 billion (Tk 20,000 crore) revenue from this sector, but it has earned 180 billion (Tk 18,000 crore), he said.

"The rest nearly 25 billion (Tk 2,500 crore) could not be realised and for this, the big reason is that in 2018-19 fiscal year the government fixed Tk 35 for a 10-stick cigarette pack which was Tk 27 in the previous fiscal year," he noted.

He said, in one year, the price of a packet of cigarette has increased by Tk 8.0, a 30 per cent increase in prices. Using this opportunity, illegal market has developed across the country, he added.

The speakers called upon the industries to work in a coordinated manner with the law enforcement agencies to prevent revenue fraud. In this regard, they suggested the industry owners to collect information on illegal business under their own auspices and fight in the court for taking legal action against the unscrupulous business people.