Service sector suggests wealth tax on new assets

Local service sector entrepreneurs Thursday suggested that the government impose wealth tax only on purchase of new properties, instead of on the existing assets. They said people will be heavily burdened, if the government collects tax every year on their existing properties. Hotel and restaurant businessmen expressed these views at a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR). They also demanded reduction of value added tax (VAT) to 3.0 per cent for non-AC restaurants and 6.0 per cent for AC restaurants. The representative of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Abdul Hamid Khan said the government can impose 5.0 per cent wealth tax on purchase of new properties, but it should not impose the tax on a massive scale.