Govt may drop tax on children's drawing books
FE Report | Saturday, 28 June 2008
The government might drop the proposal on imposition of 15 per cent duty on children's pictorial and drawing books in the budget for fiscal 2008-09 following requests from different quarters, official sources said.
In his budget speech on June 9, finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam proposed an additional customs duty on children pictorials and drawing books for the upcoming fiscal.
"Currently, pictorials and drawing books used for educational purposes for our young children are subject to 10 per cent customs duty. The content of these books, in most of the cases, are not in conformity with our own values and culture. In the interest of protecting our values and to help our children uphold our local culture, I propose to impose 25 per cent customs duty on such books," finance adviser said.
The budget proposal has largely been criticised by cross section of people, as it will escalate education expenses hurting the middle-income group of people.
Currently, children's picture, drawing or colouring books are exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT).
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) had estimated earning of Tk 50 million through imposition of VAT on the item in 2008-09.
Slapping of such VAT might bring a small amount of revenue, but it will affect a number of middle-income people as education cost will escalate in English medium schools, said an official.
Considering the requests of some academics and schools, policy makers of the government now wants the VAT exemption to continue for the item in the next fiscal, he added.
In his budget speech on June 9, finance adviser Mirza Azizul Islam proposed an additional customs duty on children pictorials and drawing books for the upcoming fiscal.
"Currently, pictorials and drawing books used for educational purposes for our young children are subject to 10 per cent customs duty. The content of these books, in most of the cases, are not in conformity with our own values and culture. In the interest of protecting our values and to help our children uphold our local culture, I propose to impose 25 per cent customs duty on such books," finance adviser said.
The budget proposal has largely been criticised by cross section of people, as it will escalate education expenses hurting the middle-income group of people.
Currently, children's picture, drawing or colouring books are exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT).
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) had estimated earning of Tk 50 million through imposition of VAT on the item in 2008-09.
Slapping of such VAT might bring a small amount of revenue, but it will affect a number of middle-income people as education cost will escalate in English medium schools, said an official.
Considering the requests of some academics and schools, policy makers of the government now wants the VAT exemption to continue for the item in the next fiscal, he added.