Tax-dodging by state enterprises

The National Board of Revenue (NBR), the body entrusted with the task of mopping up the most part of the government's tax revenue, has been encountering double trouble. A number of large private sector value-added tax (VAT) payers are taking recourse to legal actions either to delay the payment of VAT deliberately or pay the same at a reduced rate. Thus VAT worth billions of Takas is now stuck in court cases. There are allegations of lack of seriousness on the part of NBR to recover the stuck-up VAT and other taxes.
It is not that the private sector companies and individuals are the ones to dodge payments of the proper amount of taxes to the government. The state-owned entities are also not lagging behind. The tug-of-war between the NBR and the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission (BTRC) over the payment of tax on the income of the latter is already known to the public, courtesy of the media. The NBR has claimed tax on the earnings of the BTRC on account of fees and charges -- the spectrum allocation fees are quite substantial -- collected from the telecom companies. But the Commission is refusing to pay tax on the plea that the relevant law exempts it from payment of income tax to the government.    
Of late an identical dispute over non- payment of VAT between four state-owned gas companies and the NBR has surfaced. The gas companies, as alleged by the NBR, have been withholding a large amount of money collected by them from their subscribers as VAT and supplementary duty (SD) since the fiscal year (FY), 2009-10. A hectic move is now underway on the part of the NBR to recover the arrear amount of tax and SD from the gas distribution companies along with accrued interest earnings from the same. The reason for not depositing the VAT and SD money with the tax offices remains unclear. The management of these companies cannot withhold payment without assigning any valid reason/s.
The government reportedly has formed a committee to remove 'complexities', if there is any, involving the payment of VAT and SD by the gas companies concerned. The terms of the reference of the committee is yet to be approved by the finance minister. It would be in the fitness of things to assign the committee with the responsibility of finding out the reasons for withholding the payment of tax to the NBR which finds it hard to achieve the revenue targets set by the government for every fiscal. If the public sector organisations defy rules to stash the money that belongs to some other organisation of their kind into their own coffers, they are, in fact, encouraging other entities, including the private ones, not to pay taxes to the government.
Overall the refusal to make payment of taxes or withhold their deposit with the relevant agencies only demonstrates the lack of discipline in the public sector organisations. The indiscipline over tax payment, it seems, is not aimed at benefiting the state-owned entities. It could be to reap personal benefits by some unscrupulous people. Only a through probe might reveal the truth or mystery whatever one may like to call it. For the sake of ridding the state enterprises of bad habits such as tax dodging, launching of a few probes could prove to be a good move.