Speakers at a discussion organised by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Sunday called for a reform-oriented, pro-people and self-reliant national budget - aimed at improving living standards through equitable wealth distribution.
They said the budget must not become a tool for public exploitation or facilitating money laundering, adding that the national budgets since the independence had largely failed to bring meaningful change to ordinary people's lives.
The party plans to place an alternative budget from the Opposition bench in the parliament, and is consulting various stakeholders as part of the process, they added.
The discussion, titled "National Budget Thinking", was held at Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) auditorium in the capital, with Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar attending as the chief guest.
"As the Opposition, we want to help strengthen the government's budgeting process and the country's economic drivers from within," Mr Parwar said.
Jamaat already held several pre-budget discussions, and recommendations from those dialogues would be compiled and presented through the party's parliamentary wing.
"The governments backed by a majority often leave little room for the opposition parties to influence decisions in the parliament. Even so, the nation deserves to know what kind of budget we envision in line with public aspirations," he added.
Presiding over the event, A H M Hamidur Rahman Azad, Jamaat Assistant Secretary General and former lawmaker, said people expected the first elected government after the July Uprising to present a budget reflecting the spirit of the movement.
He urged the government to formulate an equitable and self-reliant budget without increasing tax burden on the citizens or deepening reliance on loans.
In his keynote presentation, Professor Dr A K M Waresul Karim, dean of School of Business and Economics at North South University, said nearly 80 per cent of the projected revenue target in the upcoming budget would come from indirect taxes, particularly VAT, which would disproportionately affect the low- and middle-income groups.
He criticised the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for failing to explore innovative revenue sources.
"Raising tax rates is not an achievement. Expanding the tax net requires efficiency," he said, urging the government to focus on netting tax evaders instead of burdening regular taxpayers.
