PM pushes stable tax regime to boost investor confidence

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman instructed the revenue authority to pursue predictable tax regime to uphold investor confidence as the new budget outlook was set out Thursday.
"Policy consistency must be maintained in the upcoming national budget," he said during over an eight-hour meeting at the Secretariat with National Board of Revenue (NBR) officials on the nitty-gritty of the new government's maiden budget in the making
Officials say this is the first time they have seen a prime minister intensively scrutinize the tax proposals to check its rationality in public interest.
"It is the longest pre-budget meeting with a PM in Bangladesh's history where the head of government carefully approved the tax proposals for next FY budget," says a senior official of the NBR, who was present at the meeting.
The prime minister approved a slew of tax proposals, including the introduction of 'Wealth Tax' in Bangladesh, he adds.
He, however, says imposing new taxes on low-and fixed-income groups of people has been dropped from the budget proposals.

Source tax-hike proposal on essential commodities has been put on hold for further review as per instructions of the PM, he adds.
Among the approved tax proposals, exemption of excise duty on bank deposits up to Tk 0.5 million, tax waiver on import of heart ring, dialysis tubes, increasing price slab for tobacco, mandatory VAT-registration number for opening bank accounts by businesses, instant issuance of BIN without approval process have been approved.
Imposition of advance tax on battery rickshaws and motorbikes has also been approved at the meet.
Value-added tax (VAT) on medicines and mobile-phone users will remain unchanged.
Tax for MS Rod producers would be going up slightly as tax-hike proposal approved by the PM, sources have said.
Local producers of liquors may see higher taxes.
Tax on carbonated beverages would be lowered to facilitate investors.
All three wings of the NBR -- income tax, customs and VAT -- held the meeting and gave a presentation on their respective fiscal proposals for the fiscal year (FY) 2026-27.
Officials say some innovative fiscal measures will come in the next FY focusing on expansion of tax-base to informal sectors.
In the upcoming fiscal year, the NBR will have to collect Tk 6.04 trillion in taxes, expecting a 21.04-percent growth over the current year's original targets.
However, revenue share of the VAT wing has been projected 51.3 per cent of the total NBR target for next year.
The government targets Tk 3.10 trillion worth of VAT in FY 2026-27 followed by Tk 2.22 trillion from income tax and Tk 670 million from customs wing.
Revenue officials say the tax measures would be framed cautiously taking the persistent high inflation into consideration.
The budget, presumably with around Tk 9.0-trillion outlay, is set to be placed in parliament on May 11.
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