Taxpayers evince better trust in NBR

TAXES paid by the individual citizens on their earnings constitute one of the major sources of any government's income. But in Bangladesh's case so far the opposite has been the tradition. People in general were either unaware about or averse to paying taxes on their income. The government ministers in charge of finance in the past had often complained against the common citizens' apathy towards paying taxes. Understandably, such resentment had its reason, too. Though citizens in general are very shy about paying taxes, presence of the tax department is ubiquitous in all the administrative districts of the country. And it is also one of the oldest institutions of the state. But despite the fact that the revenue administration is ever-present as well as age-old, people in general view it with suspicion. However, such outlook of the common people about the tax department may be likened to their attitude towards other departments of the government having discretionary power. And it hardly needs any further explaining why the citizens, who have the means to pay tax, were in the habit of evading their responsibilities as citizens. To their perception, it was better to evade taxes rather than inviting unknown hazards by approaching the tax department to pay taxes. Instances are legion in the past that many well-meaning citizens, in their bid to become good citizens, had got entangled in a web of unnecessary harassment and even financial loss.
So far, complicated procedures of assessment, ignorance about the relevant laws, existence of some unscrupulous elements in the tax administration and such other inhibitive factors have been together depriving the government of a substantial amount of potential revenue earnings. To all appearances, the overall situation has been showing signs of significant improvement. The chairman of the National Board of Revenue himself has admitted that there has been a healthy growth in income tax payment by the citizens this assessment year. It has been found that around 645,000 taxpayers have submitted their returns until the end of the just expired deadline of submitting individual tax returns. This is a significant growth so far as the number of assesses paying their taxes is concerned seeing that in the last year the number was about 536,000. But what is more noteworthy is that the volume of personal income tax receipts this year has shot up about threefold compared to what it was in the previous year. The comparison would be clear from the figures as provided by the NBR last Monday. Last year the size of the collection was Tk 2.52 billion whereas this year the same stands at Tk 7.39 billion.
Though the NBR had to shift the last date for submitting the returns twice, it is still reassuring that the taxpayers have taken hold of the opportunity to discharge their duties as responsible citizens. The improvement in the volume of related revenue receipt this year may also be attributed to a more taxpayer-friendly revenue administration which has made the process of submitting tax returns easier by simplifying the entire procedure. What is more, this year the government has also introduced the universal tax assessment methods to further facilitate revenue collection through making the procedure to fill up the relevant papers easier.
Looking at the composition of the returnees, it is gratifying to note that disclosures by various professional groups this time have been relatively fair than before. All the success stories certainly go to the credit of the of the government's revenue department. If efforts are made to encourage people, having the taxable income, to pay taxes under simplified methods of filing returns without facing hassles, that will lead to greater tax compliance on a voluntary basis.