CHITTAGONG, May 4: Revenue board Chairman Ghulam Hossain said Sunday the government's GDP (gross domestic product) growth target would be 7.3 per cent for the next financial year and the target of revenue would be Tk 1.49 trillion.
"The size of the new government's first budget would be Tk 2.5 trillion and it will be double in the fifth year of the government," he said.
He said the rate of revenue payment increased while dependence on internal resources also increased during the last five budgetary periods.
He was addressing two pre-budget business meetings with the directors of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CMCCI) in the port city Sunday.
Mahbubul Alam presented the pre-budget proposals of the CCCI directors and businesses and Md Khalilur Rahman presented the pre-budget proposals of the CMCCI directors and businesses.
The government reduced supplementary duty and regulatory duty of only 170 goods instead of 1,263 which would be in force in the upcoming budget, he said adding that the budget had been made more business-friendly, industry, revenue and consumer-friendly taking a growing middle class into consideration.
President of CCCI Mahbubul Alam placed 47 proposals on duty, 16 proposals on Vat and 44 proposals on income tax.
He emphasised creating sector-wise expertise of human resource development, providing necessary training of human resources for export, taking specific plans for booming industries like ceramics, leather, jute and jute goods, medicine and ship building industry.
Mr Alam proposed reduction of duty on import of electronic components for producing finished products in the recognised assembling plants. He is for imposition of no extra tax on imported spare parts for public transports and giving budgetary guidelines for construction of special economic zones, tunnel under the river Karnaphuli, 1,320 megawatt capacity coal-based power plant at Moheshkhali and the deep sea port at Sonadia.
CMCCI President Khalilur Rahman said the industries were facing manifold problems. He asked the government to reduce high bank interest rates which now vary between 16 per cent and 18 per cent, reduce corporate tax which now ranges from 7 per cent to 42 per cent and expedite import of LNG (liquefied natural gas), take effective measures to check system loss of electricity and natural resources.
About apartment owners Ghulam Hossain said "As they are not providing facts about the sources of money they have invested in building the apartments, the NBR could not realise taxes from the house owners and the tenants," he said.
He said that transactions between apartment builders and their tenants should be done through the banks so that the government could realise the taxes properly.
The NBR chief, also secretary of the Internal Resources Division (IRD), said they had asked the apartment builders about their sources of money but they were concealing facts about it. The filing officers became helpless. So the government was deprived of payable taxes, he said.
Thousands of millions were being transacted in the real estate sector every year. But the tenants alleged that the owners were not paying due taxes to the government. The tenants were also dodging taxes, he claimed.
