Move on to cut duty on book import

Doulot Akter Mala | Published: April 18, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The government has moved to waive import duty on books, making locals involved in book business worried that cheaper imports would throw them into deeper trouble.
Import costs of a great array of reading materials in book forms will be reduced after withdrawal of the import tax, making them easy available.
These include printed magazines, manuals, reference books, English-medium textbooks, novels, storybooks and literature books.
The import of such books is required to pay a total of 15.32 per cent taxes, including 5.0 per cent import duty, 5.0 per cent advance income tax (AIT) and 4.0 per cent advance trade VAT (ATV).
According to revenue-board data, some Tk 2.0 million worth of taxes were collected on book imports worth Tk 36.8 million in July-December period of the current fiscal year.
Bangladesh Textbook Printing and Marking Samity every year proposed increasing the import duty on those books.
In a proposal sent to the Ministry of Finance, the customs wing of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) explained pros and cons with its negative opinion on waiver of the import taxes although there would be no significant revenue loss with the tax-benefit.
Officials said the wing has prepared the proposal following instructions of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Mayeedul Islam MP earlier had sent a demy official letter to the finance minister requesting him to waive customs duty on books, terming the taxes as "barrier to exchange and expansion of knowledge".
In the proposal, the revenue board expressed its reservation on waiver of customs duty in view of the interest of the local industry -- book printers, publishers and booksellers.
Former senior president of Bangladesh Textbook Publisher and Marketing Samity SM Mohsin strongly criticised the move as it would severely affect the local publishers.
"We will face an uneven competition as cheap imported books will flood the local market," he said.
Tax should be increased on imported books instead of reducing it in order to help the local publishing industry survive, he said.
Solaiman Parsee Faisal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pragati Publishers Limited, said the local industry has the capacity to meet the domestic demand for books.
"Survival of the industry is necessary as many people are employed in the printing industries," he said.
The industries need government incentives to compete in the open-market economy, he added.
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