JS body suggests steps to make budget effective
Monday, 8 June 2009
FE Report
The upcoming budget would focus on the global recession and building a 'Digital Bangladesh', said chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance AHN Mustafa Kamal Sunday.
The Jatiya Sangsad (JS) committee put forward a number of recommendations to make the budget effective, he said.
The recommendations include allowing conditional tax holiday and whitening of undisclosed money, allocating substantial amounts for the power and energy, agriculture, communications and other strategic sectors, he said after a meeting of the standing committee.
The committee discussed the Public Finance and Budget Management Bill 2009 aimed at ensuring more accountability and transparency in budget implementation, he said.
"The bill will be placed and passed in the ongoing session of the parliament and will be applicable for the next budget," he added.
After the bill is passed, the finance minister will have to inform the parliament of progress in budget implementation, revenue collection and the Annual Development Programme status in every quarter, Mr Kamal said.
In the budget of a fiscal year, the minister will also announce the projection for next two fiscals, he explained.
He said the finance ministry already sent the draft bill to the law ministry to examine whether it would contradict the Constitution.
The military-installed interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed earlier made an ordinance having similar provisions.
The ordinance was placed in parliament on Jan 25 as per constitutional guidelines.
But the government then decided not to pass the ordinance into law.
The standing committee meeting has formulated a guideline to develop a website of the standing committee to make the body more responsive, he said.
Mr Kamal said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) should recruit more people to collect more tax from upazila level.
"Out of 464 upazilas, NBR operates in only three upazilas which is very unfortunate," he said.
Income tax contributes only 24 per cent of the total revenue and it can be increased to 50 per cent within a span of 5 years, he added.
At upazila level the NBR can opt for turnover tax instead of personal income tax to increase revenue, he suggested.
"Each shop will pay Tk 2,000 at upazila level and Tk 1,000 at union level as annual tax and I think the businessmen are willing to pay such tax subject to they will not be harassed by the tax officials," he said.
The standing committee chairman said the government must improve the law and order situation to make the country more business-friendly.
"Without improving the law and order situation it is impossible to develop," he said.
Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister expressed their concerns and instructed the concerned agencies to do whatever possible to improve the situation, he added.
The upcoming budget would focus on the global recession and building a 'Digital Bangladesh', said chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance AHN Mustafa Kamal Sunday.
The Jatiya Sangsad (JS) committee put forward a number of recommendations to make the budget effective, he said.
The recommendations include allowing conditional tax holiday and whitening of undisclosed money, allocating substantial amounts for the power and energy, agriculture, communications and other strategic sectors, he said after a meeting of the standing committee.
The committee discussed the Public Finance and Budget Management Bill 2009 aimed at ensuring more accountability and transparency in budget implementation, he said.
"The bill will be placed and passed in the ongoing session of the parliament and will be applicable for the next budget," he added.
After the bill is passed, the finance minister will have to inform the parliament of progress in budget implementation, revenue collection and the Annual Development Programme status in every quarter, Mr Kamal said.
In the budget of a fiscal year, the minister will also announce the projection for next two fiscals, he explained.
He said the finance ministry already sent the draft bill to the law ministry to examine whether it would contradict the Constitution.
The military-installed interim government of Fakhruddin Ahmed earlier made an ordinance having similar provisions.
The ordinance was placed in parliament on Jan 25 as per constitutional guidelines.
But the government then decided not to pass the ordinance into law.
The standing committee meeting has formulated a guideline to develop a website of the standing committee to make the body more responsive, he said.
Mr Kamal said the National Board of Revenue (NBR) should recruit more people to collect more tax from upazila level.
"Out of 464 upazilas, NBR operates in only three upazilas which is very unfortunate," he said.
Income tax contributes only 24 per cent of the total revenue and it can be increased to 50 per cent within a span of 5 years, he added.
At upazila level the NBR can opt for turnover tax instead of personal income tax to increase revenue, he suggested.
"Each shop will pay Tk 2,000 at upazila level and Tk 1,000 at union level as annual tax and I think the businessmen are willing to pay such tax subject to they will not be harassed by the tax officials," he said.
The standing committee chairman said the government must improve the law and order situation to make the country more business-friendly.
"Without improving the law and order situation it is impossible to develop," he said.
Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister expressed their concerns and instructed the concerned agencies to do whatever possible to improve the situation, he added.