Reform package to boost revenue, expedite ADP execution drafted

FE Team | Published: November 12, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Nazmul Ahsan
The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has prepared a set of reform proposals to help boost the government's revenue earning and speed up the development expenditure, according to sources.
The proposals were submitted to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday for her approval. The reform proposals, if approved and implemented, would expedite the country's economic growth and help the economy successfully weather external shocks, the finance ministry officials said.
"We need formal approval of the Prime Minister to start implementation of the reforms in both development and revenue sectors", a top finance ministry official told the FE.
"The reforms measures would bring about positive results in the government's revenue earning and execution of development projects", he said.
The reform measures aim at bringing down the number of Statutory Regulatory Orders (SROs) issued by the revenue board, rationalizing the tax exemption facilities and introducing the tax payments through online and mobile phones.
The proposed reforms suggest the separation of the Tax Policy Unit from the National Board of Revenue and place the same under the Internal Resources Division. The reform package also underscores the need for full automation of revenue administration.

The finance ministry has also suggested granting the taxpayers under the universal tax assessment system the immunity from audit of their tax returns for the first two years to encourage new taxpayers.
The package also puts emphasis on imposition of more direct taxes to consolidate and expand the tax earning system.
It also suggests actions to discourage payment of taxes through bank guarantee, instead of cash payment, imposition of higher rate of taxes on products like tobacco, alcohol and luxury items. Establishment of a separate High Court Bench to settle the tax related disputes speedily has also been suggested.
Furthermore, the finance ministry suggested trimming of the list of duty-exempted items to earn more revenue income, updating the tax and VAT rules and expanding the tax offices up to upazila level.
The reform proposals also recommended an increase in the manpower of revenue department and vigorous efforts to increase the non-NBR income.
To speed up implementation of the development projects, the ministry suggested creation of a 'Pool Fund' in the middle part of every fiscal year to utilize the development funds that various government agencies failed to spend.
It also suggested the government to make the ministries and agencies accountable for their failure to implement their annual development programme and allocations, undertake efforts to dispose of litigation relating to development programmes and strengthen the monitoring mechanism of ministries during and after the implementation of development projects.
It also suggested rationalization of the number of development projects in the annual development programme.