Traders of reconditioned vehicles on Sunday placed a number of demands, including raising the depreciation rate of old and reconditioned cars up to 50 per cent depending on their age in the upcoming budget.
They also called for rearranging the cylinder capacity (CC) slabs and specific duty treatment for the import of hybrid car.
The Bangladesh Recon-ditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (BARVIDA) came up with the recommendations at a pre-budget meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at its office in the city.
"A total of 11,476 reconditioned cars were imported during the first six months of the current fiscal year and the government received Tk 14.88 billion in revenue," BARVIDA President Habib Ullah Dawn said.
Revenue collection from the sector would reach Tk 35 billion if the government provides policy supports, he added. He also proposed a 15 per cent price cut on the actual average import price before taxation and revision of the depreciation rate of reconditioned vehicles.
Depreciation is not applicable for one-year-old reconditioned cars and importers are enjoying price depreciation on imports of old and reconditioned cars and vehicles under HS (Harmonised System) code from 87.02 to 87.04 at the highest rate of 40 per cent for five-year-old cars.
The association has sought 10 per cent depreciation rate for one-year-old cars, 20 per cent for two-year-old cars, 30 per cent for three-year-old cars, 40 per cent for four-year-old cars and 50 per cent for five-year-old cars.
At present, there is no specific duty treatment for import of used, reconditioned, or old hybrid car although these cars are more environment-friendly, the BARVIDA president said, demanding a specific duty structure for the vehicles.
Though hybrid cars are eco-friendly and fuel-efficient, importers are not importing these cars due to high duty rate, he said, proposing rearranging the CC slabs for imposing supplementary duties and raising the slab for duty imposition to at least 1800cc from the existing 1600cc.
"Importers get little benefit from the existing duty structure on hybrid cars as the first hybrid car -- Toyota Prius -- was of 1800cc," he said, demanding raising the slab to 2500cc from 1801cc for the importing Harrier model.
During the first four months of last fiscal, a total of 2000 hybrid cars were imported, he added.
NBR Chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan called on the BARVIDA leaders not to seek sweeping tax reduction, as the government needs to mobilise more resources to meet its growing budgetary expenditure.
"Each year the size of budget is increasing. This year, an additional Tk 300 billion to Tk 400 billion has to be collected whereas our source is limited," he added. He, however, assured them that they would look into their demands.
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