Government's revenue authority has framed a three-tier time-bound action plan for augmenting revenues to finance the building up of 'smart Bangladesh', as present finances are inadequate even for the current budget support.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) plans to implement the revenue map until 2041 for financing the government vision, sources said.
It has set 2025, 2031 and 2041 deadlines to implement the plan for achieving targets phase-wise, principally banking on digitisation of the revenue system with all-encompassing networking.
A total of seven broad aspects have been brought in the action plan setting specific and three benchmark years' targets to get to the lofty goal.
According to the action plan, interconnectivity will be set up with third-party systems inclusive of power- producing companies, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Chief Controller of Exports and Imports (CCI&E), National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre (NTMC), Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA), Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA), Bangladesh Bank, iBAS++, different scheduled banks, City Corporation, Land Ministry, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Authority etc.
Under the mega-plan, the NBR would complete 25 per cent of interconnectivity works by 2025, 50 per cent by 2031 and 100 per cent by 2041, the action plan reads.
The initiatives would be implemented by accumulating resources from government entities and the World Bank to ensure exchange of information between the NBR and third parties, check tax evasion and achieve domestic revenue-mobilization challenges. The NBR would also introduce e-invoicing (with BI and AI) on production, distribution and wholesale goods and set time-bound targets to achieve 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 100 per cent by 2025, 2031 and 2041.
To widen the tax base by netting individuals and businesses, the NBR would prepare Tax Return Preparer (TRP) system with the help of the government and the European Union.
It would prepare system or database to resolve pending court cases and target to build an automated system for 25 per cent of total revenue cases by 2025, 75 per cent by 2031 and 100 per cent by 2041.
Of the total government employees, some 25 per cent are expected to get skill-development trainings by 2025 followed by 50 per cent 2031 and 100 per cent by 100 per cent.
Under action plan for introducing cashless payment system, the plan is to mobilise 25 per cent of its revenue through e-payment of VAT, customs and Income tax, followed by 75 per cent by 2031 and 100 per cent by 2041.
Distinguished fellow of the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Prof Mustafizur Rahman cautiously welcomes the move. He says mobilisation of higher revenue became imperative in Bangladesh given the country's resource crunch as "entire revenue is spent on interest payments while domestic budget comes from debt".
He suggests that the NBR implement the plan through taking insights from previous experiences, as many of such plans have not succeeded.
"The NBR would need investments, physical infrastructure, human resources, technological upgradation to implement the action plan," he says. Vendor selection for implementing the action plan is another important issue that needs to be taken care of cautiously, he adds.
The NBR would build smart content and move to make people aware through participatory measures.
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