Tax and social welfare
Sunday, 28 October 2007
M Azizur Rahman
BUSINESSMEN are the major tax payers in any country and in Bangladesh. Business is involved in manufacturing, production, trading and purchase and sales of goods and services. Business is for the human life and also for living for businessmen and non-businessmen in both private and public sectors. Each and every human being directly or indirectly depends on the businesses in private and public sectors.
The government earns an income and its revenue and development budgets are funded by taxing general people and the businessmen in particular as they are the major tax payers. Sometimes, the government borrows domestically and internationally to meet the financial resource shortfall in its Annual Development Programme (ADP) and to carry out the major infrastructural works. It has to repay all these debts with the tax-payers' money.
Every transaction, in kind or in cash, between two individuals or parties is based on the 'give and take policy'. The government imposes and collects tax from people. Tax payers also expect the government to take care of them by providing the economic security to them. Each individual belonging to taxable income groups must pay taxes to the government or must share their business or personal income with it. At the same time, taxpayers are also worried about meeting their basic necessities in life including food, shelter, clothing, education and health for themselves and for their children or for the present and future consumption.
Government is the major employment-providing body and is providing us with physical infrastructures like roads, bridges, culverts, official and service-oriented buildings, and buildings for hospitals, educational institutions, administration and social and national infrastructural requirements. It has been providing us education and health facilities, the security of life and living, law and order, and justice and peace-keeping forces. It helps to facilitate both domestic and international trade, and intervenes and trig to protect the market failure by taking various economic policies. It provides subsidies to consumers of essential goods and food. It provides housing loans at a reasonable rate of interest. Present tax revenues earned by the government is not enough to do all that the government is expected to provide the people for their well-being. We have to develop the tax payment culture to ensure adequate funds for the government for its performance of the social or infrastructural activities.
Governments in most of the countries do or try to do serve the need for providing people's welfare-oriented activities in different capacities with the proceeds of the tax revenue they earn from the people. If we can introduce and develop the culture of tax payment and increase the flow of funds to the government, we may expect the following from it:
Provisions of jobs and job-creation to decrease unemployment or to increase national output and income; pension fund in private and public sector; provident fund in private and public sector; gratuity in private and public sector; unemployment allowance from the social security tax; children's rearing and bearing fund since their birth; children's education fund to cover their school education up to 12 years free of cost; ensuring primary health care nationwide; and increasing the health education by increasing the number of medical colleges, and medical technology institutions in both public and private sectors.
To provide food, clothing and shelter of housing at a reasonable price, the government requires to take appropriate policies to help expand the aggregate supply of goods and services by increasing the productivity in businesses in an innovative manner. This should be done in a manner so that inflationary pressure is not generated on economy. The consumers should also be facilitated to buy goods and services they need, at affordable costs.
Finally, all related segments of the population can be brought under Tax Identification Number (TIN) by opening their tax return file. This will open the door for introducing the tax payment culture in the country, and will enable the government to undertake the social welfare activities. It can, therefore, perform its job of two-way transaction between people and the government to ensure proper distribution of income in order to raise the people's standard of living and promote social welfare and development.
(The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Uttara University, Dhaka)
BUSINESSMEN are the major tax payers in any country and in Bangladesh. Business is involved in manufacturing, production, trading and purchase and sales of goods and services. Business is for the human life and also for living for businessmen and non-businessmen in both private and public sectors. Each and every human being directly or indirectly depends on the businesses in private and public sectors.
The government earns an income and its revenue and development budgets are funded by taxing general people and the businessmen in particular as they are the major tax payers. Sometimes, the government borrows domestically and internationally to meet the financial resource shortfall in its Annual Development Programme (ADP) and to carry out the major infrastructural works. It has to repay all these debts with the tax-payers' money.
Every transaction, in kind or in cash, between two individuals or parties is based on the 'give and take policy'. The government imposes and collects tax from people. Tax payers also expect the government to take care of them by providing the economic security to them. Each individual belonging to taxable income groups must pay taxes to the government or must share their business or personal income with it. At the same time, taxpayers are also worried about meeting their basic necessities in life including food, shelter, clothing, education and health for themselves and for their children or for the present and future consumption.
Government is the major employment-providing body and is providing us with physical infrastructures like roads, bridges, culverts, official and service-oriented buildings, and buildings for hospitals, educational institutions, administration and social and national infrastructural requirements. It has been providing us education and health facilities, the security of life and living, law and order, and justice and peace-keeping forces. It helps to facilitate both domestic and international trade, and intervenes and trig to protect the market failure by taking various economic policies. It provides subsidies to consumers of essential goods and food. It provides housing loans at a reasonable rate of interest. Present tax revenues earned by the government is not enough to do all that the government is expected to provide the people for their well-being. We have to develop the tax payment culture to ensure adequate funds for the government for its performance of the social or infrastructural activities.
Governments in most of the countries do or try to do serve the need for providing people's welfare-oriented activities in different capacities with the proceeds of the tax revenue they earn from the people. If we can introduce and develop the culture of tax payment and increase the flow of funds to the government, we may expect the following from it:
Provisions of jobs and job-creation to decrease unemployment or to increase national output and income; pension fund in private and public sector; provident fund in private and public sector; gratuity in private and public sector; unemployment allowance from the social security tax; children's rearing and bearing fund since their birth; children's education fund to cover their school education up to 12 years free of cost; ensuring primary health care nationwide; and increasing the health education by increasing the number of medical colleges, and medical technology institutions in both public and private sectors.
To provide food, clothing and shelter of housing at a reasonable price, the government requires to take appropriate policies to help expand the aggregate supply of goods and services by increasing the productivity in businesses in an innovative manner. This should be done in a manner so that inflationary pressure is not generated on economy. The consumers should also be facilitated to buy goods and services they need, at affordable costs.
Finally, all related segments of the population can be brought under Tax Identification Number (TIN) by opening their tax return file. This will open the door for introducing the tax payment culture in the country, and will enable the government to undertake the social welfare activities. It can, therefore, perform its job of two-way transaction between people and the government to ensure proper distribution of income in order to raise the people's standard of living and promote social welfare and development.
(The writer is Vice-Chancellor, Uttara University, Dhaka)