The finance minister in the budget, placed in the parliament on June 9, reportedly proposed a 15 per cent value-added tax on the sales of imported laptops. Even before the budget, laptop prices had gone up by 10 to 15 per cent in Bangladesh owing to rising value of US dollar against taka, unprecedented shipping charges and supply chain disruptions in the global microchip market. And now the 15 per cent VAT will surely hit laptop users belonging to the middle class, students and the freelancing community. This is likely to constrain the sectors such as education, freelance outsourcing, e-commerce and other areas largely dependent on laptops. It also stands against the vision of achieving Digital Bangladesh, which has been advocated by the incumbent government since 2009.
In today's technology-driven education system, students have become one of the top users of laptops in the country. Imposing the VAT will, undoubtedly, create a financial burden for them when they would like to buy new imported laptops. This will deprive them of the benefit they could get from using a laptop. Moreover, new freelancers, who need a laptop to enter the profession, will face an impediment as the price of laptops will go up further.
We welcome any government move that encourages domestic production. But the 15 per cent VAT on laptops will hurt consumers directly as local production meets only 5 per cent of the demand. Needless to say, from reducing digital inequality to ensuring access to digital technology, the government should revoke the decision of imposing the 15 per cent VAT on the sales of imported laptops.
Al Amin Hossain,
University of Chittagong, Chattogram,
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