Cutting customs duty on 4,610 items

An English daily recently reported that the National Board of Revenue issued a statutory regulatory order (SRO) on 17 December 2014, announcing curtailment of customs duty on 4,610 products for 2013 and 2014 calendar years for trade under the South Asian Free Trade Area with retrospective effect from January 1, 2014. The importers will be refunded the customs duty they paid. . The decision does not appear to be a rational one, since the traders had already recovered the duties from the purchasers. As an effect of the SRO they will get the duty again from government but will not refund the same to the consumers.

All indirect taxes like, customs duty etc. are ultimately borne by consumers.  The traders or the importers never bear those indirect taxes themselves. The said SRO is contrary to good governance.

As a conscious citizen of the country, I would like to urge upon the government to change the decision and give effect of the SRO from the date of issuance.

Mohd. Ashraf Hossain