Move to include income tax edn in SSC, HSC text books

The income tax authority has initiated a move to include income tax (IT) education in the national board curriculum of secondary and higher secondary education aiming to build awareness among the students.

The wing recently formed a committee to prepare a draft of a text on income tax that would be easily understandable for school and college students.

The board would place the draft to the chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

The proposal would also be submitted to Finance Minister AMA Muhith for his consent.

After obtaining approval, the income tax wing will hold inter-ministerial meeting with the ministry of education to proceed on the issue.

Tax education in school and college curriculums is likely to be incorporated from next year, officials said.

Talking to the FE, a senior income tax official said the text will be incorporated in an easy language and may be in a story style so that children too could find it interesting.      

There might be two comparative pictures of developed and underdeveloped areas to show the positive impact of payment of tax, he added.

The NBR launched different moves earlier to make people aware of tax payment.

Every year, the NBR observes the National Income Tax Day and tax fair in a festive mood to build awareness among people and motivate them for payment of income tax.

The NBR also prepared several documentaries to make people aware of payment of income tax to strengthen the public exchequer.

The country's tax-GDP ratio is below 9.0 per cent, one of the poorest in South Asia compared to those of other countries.

It is 15 per cent in India, 12 per cent in Pakistan, 13 per cent in Sri Lanka, 13 per cent in Nepal and 14 per cent in Bhutan. Also, tax-GDP ratio is 25 per cent in Vietnam and 18 per cent in China.

In Bangladesh, many people, having considerable income, are yet to know about their responsibility on payment of income tax.

Currently, some 1.0 million individual tax-payers submit annual income tax returns to the NBR out of 160 million population. NBR data also has recorded the number of Taxpayers Identification Number (TIN) at some 1.7 million.

The income tax official said children are the future taxpayers of the country who should have basic knowledge on 'what income tax is'.

There was a move to incorporate tax education in the national board curriculum a few years ago which failed to see light of the day due to bureaucratic tangle.

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