Bankers suggest cut in corporate tax rate

Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB) and Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) on Wednesday suggested the government to cut corporate tax rate to 40 per cent from the existing 42.5 per cent as it is the highest in the world. They also demanded that the income of banks from share market be considered as capital gain. The association leaders proposed these in a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR), chaired by NBR chairman Dr Nasiruddin Ahmed. ABB chairman, who is also Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of City Bank Ltd, K Mahmood Sattar, MD and CEO of National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Mohammed Nurul Amin and MD and CEO of Pubali Bank Helal Ahmed Chowdhury attended the meeting. The association also suggested the government to ease the tax identification number (TIN) issuance system, raise the ceiling for tax-free income on maintenance to Tk 30,000 from the existing Tk 2,000, not to cut tax of statutory reserve and provide tax benefit on income of zero coupon bond for banks and financial institutions. Responding to the suggestions, the NBR chairman said the service will be provided through online from December next. "The election commission is preparing software to establish interconnection with the revenue board to tag TIN with the national identity card," he said. NBR member Aminur Rahman urged the bank association to check corrupt practices of some banks that are concealing actual salary information of employees by providing cash amount in addition to recorded salaries.