Collection of tax revenue, largely import-stage revenue, grew by 15.75 per cent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year.
Customs revenue grew by 22.45 per cent until January of fiscal year (FY) 2021-22 due to a volatile market of essential commodities and petroleum products.
A significant part of income tax also comes as import-stage revenue.
The revenue authorities are now receiving higher taxes as value of import products, mainly revenue-generating ones, went up significantly.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) collected Tk 1.53-trillion tax during the July-January period, up by Tk 208.21 billion than that of the same period last year.
Income tax payers paid Tk 467.67-billion taxes, up by 14.30 per cent compared to that of the corresponding period last year.
VAT collection grew by 12.68 per cent with Tk 579.42 billon during the period in question. Customs wing collected Tk 487.27-billion taxes. However, three of the wings missed their respective targets for the period.
Revenue collection targets for VAT, customs and income tax were Tk 1.28 trillion, Tk 960 billion and Tk 1.06 trillion respectively for the July-January period.
A senior NBR official says the government sets collection target keeping an ideal situation in mind, but the NBR has to give several tax exemptions after the national budget.
"Tax exemptions ate up a significant part of tax revenue, causing a shortfall in the collection target," he adds.
The government has to offer such exemptions for the sake of national interests and also to keep the commodity market stable, acceding to the official.
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) president Md Jashim Uddin suggests that the NBR come out from only revenue collection perspective in view of the volatile global market.
The value of cooking oil rose globally and tax collection from the product also increased eventually as tax is imposed on the value, he said.
Experts said import expenses would go up further if the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine continues.
Bangladesh Bank data shows the opening of letters of credit, generally known as import orders, increased by 11.18 per cent to $6.86 billion in January from $6.17 billion a month before.
Customs revenue faced 4.46-per cent negative growth in FY 2019-20 that jumped to 27.41 per cent in FY 2020-21.
In FY 2021, VAT collection growth was 15.44 per cent and income tax grew by 19.31 per cent.
The NBR collected Tk 771.50-billion customs revenue last year followed by Tk 975.07-billion VAT and Tk 852.24-billion income taxes.
In FY 2019-20, it collected Tk 605.52-billion customs revenue, Tk 848.52-billion VAT and Tk 730.13-billion income taxes.
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