Good governance needed to boost tax collection

The tax administration should work more efficiently to boost revenue in the upcoming national budget, a discussion was told on Wednesday. Speakers at the discussion said tax net cannot be expanded without ensuring good governance. The pre-budget discussion was jointly organised by the Institute of  Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and Daily Prothom Alo at the daily’s office in Dhaka. Former Adviser to the caretaker government Dr Akbar Ali Khan said massive reform in the budgetary system is needed to make it transparent. Mentioning that the size of economy of the country has increased, the former bureaucrat said it is not possible to keep Value Added Tax (VAT) to 15 per cent as it is putting impact on the poor people, according to a news agency.