Panel discussion on revenue mobilisation

A panel discussion on 'Strengthening Fiscal Foundations: Enhancing Domestic Revenue Mobilisation for Sustainable Growth in Bangladesh' was held at the 6th Bangladesh Economics Summit 2025, organised by the Economics Study Center (ESC) at the University of Dhaka, on Tuesday.

Dr. Selim Raihan, Professor of Economics, moderated the discussions. The panel members included Sharmind Neelormi, Professor of Economics, Jahangirnagar University, Towfiqul Islam Khan, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), and Dhruv Sharma, Senior Economist, The World Bank, says a statement.

Dhruv Sharma said that 70 per cent of total tax is collected from indirect taxes i.e. mostly VAT. Only 10 million people have TIN number, therefore the amount of tax collected is very small in amount. Furthermore, one third of total tax is collected from large taxpayers.

He recommended that the interaction between tax collectors and taxpayers should be minimised or else the scope of corruption will increase.

Towfiqul Islam Khan said that people will give taxes if they get better services. The tax is not only a source of revenue rather a strategic tool of the government. "We need to have an integrated database to collect tax in an equitable basis that will be available for every institution," he added.

Replying to a question about tax burden on poor population, Dr. Raihan said that it is only because of the loopholes in our prevailing laws and policies. There are also some political issues which helps the wealthy people to evade taxes.