Govt to increase revenue income by 5pc in next 5 yrs: Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith  said Monday the government has set a target to increase revenue income by five per cent in next five years. “The revenue income has increased by only three per cent during 1983-2009. We’ve increased revenue income by three per cent in last five years,” he told a function at Sonargaon Hotel in the capital Monday afternoon, according to a news agency. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) organised the function to distribute tax cards and confer awards among the top and long-term taxpayers. Speaking as the chief guest, Muhith said the country's revenue mostly comes from income tax. “One day, tariff may disappear due to introduction of free trade worldwide. Then the income tax and value added tax (VAT) will be the only sources of the government's revenue income,” he said, adding that user tax may be another source of revenue income.
About complications of tax collection, the finance minister said harassment in tax collection and dread in paying tax still exist in the country. “We are trying to reduce the existing problems.” He, however, said that despite the problems, the government was able to collect a huge amount of revenue in last five years. Muhith said that considering the volume of national income, the country's income tax collection is very low in the South Asia region. He asked the NBR to ensure client-friendly atmosphere and motivate people to pay tax aiming to increase income tax collection. The NBR distributed 10 tax cards among top individual taxpayers in fiscal 2013-14 while 10 tax cards to the top taxpaying companies.