Simplify VAT, SD law: Seminar

Speakers at a discussion in Dhaka on Wednesday on the new law of value added tax (VAT) and supplementary duty (SD) urged the government to simplify the law and rules and exempt food, education and health from the tax regime. State Minister for Finance Abdul Mannan, who was present at the seminar organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a city hotel, supported the idea of keeping the low income consumer group's essential food items outside the tax regime. "The government's all documents should be transparent and simple to understand," he told the seminar, according to a news agency.