The office of Tax Ombudsman
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
WE do not know why we wanted and created the post of a tax ombudsman. The fact, however, is that this new post is very much essential for a developing country like Bangladesh to help develop the tax system and to make the tax collection reforms easier for ensuring a better tax administration.
We wanted a lot of changes that would make a favourable impact so that tax payers would pay tax willingly without being subjected to harassment. But the outcome of such an office has not been a satisfactory one in our case. It is functioning in name only while the government is incurring a huge cost for its upkeep. The tax ombudsman who has been holding the office since its inception was the chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) during the tenure of the previous government.
A number of NBR departments have been failing to provide any relief to the tax payers. The deputy commissioner of taxes (DCT), joint appellate commission, commissioners and additional commissioners are allegedly harassing to the tax payers and imposing taxes at a higher rate, even after submission of proper relevant documents with their offices. It is also noted that the tax ombudsman has not been able to provide any redress, despite a number of cases relating to such harassments having been referred to his office.
This post should be manned by some top administrative official, having no link with revenue department. It is better to appoint someone in this position from outside the NBR.
The taxpayers of our country are fairly educated and they understand their legal rights. They need an ombudsman who can deliver goods to them for the betterment of the country. This position is very important. It should not be abolished whimsically.
S. E. Islam
140, Kalabagan, Dhaka
We wanted a lot of changes that would make a favourable impact so that tax payers would pay tax willingly without being subjected to harassment. But the outcome of such an office has not been a satisfactory one in our case. It is functioning in name only while the government is incurring a huge cost for its upkeep. The tax ombudsman who has been holding the office since its inception was the chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) during the tenure of the previous government.
A number of NBR departments have been failing to provide any relief to the tax payers. The deputy commissioner of taxes (DCT), joint appellate commission, commissioners and additional commissioners are allegedly harassing to the tax payers and imposing taxes at a higher rate, even after submission of proper relevant documents with their offices. It is also noted that the tax ombudsman has not been able to provide any redress, despite a number of cases relating to such harassments having been referred to his office.
This post should be manned by some top administrative official, having no link with revenue department. It is better to appoint someone in this position from outside the NBR.
The taxpayers of our country are fairly educated and they understand their legal rights. They need an ombudsman who can deliver goods to them for the betterment of the country. This position is very important. It should not be abolished whimsically.
S. E. Islam
140, Kalabagan, Dhaka