Whenever businessmen come to meet him, they always complain about the National Board of Revenue (NBR), said Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed today (10 December).
“So, listen to them and take rational decisions,” he told NBR officials while speaking at a seminar, organised on the occasion of National VAT Day, at the NBR Bhaban in Dhaka’s Agargaon this morning.
“Their [businessmen] words also have a mandate. Not everything they demand can be provided but there must be rational decisions, and there must be a sense of kinship,” he said.
Alongside NBR, the finance adviser emphasised ensuring compliance by businessmen.
He also expressed his dissatisfaction with the tax exemption given to various sectors by the government for a long time.
Salehuddin said, “For 50 years, we have been nurturing many industries [by giving tax exemptions]. They are still infants. They have grown physically, but they still cannot consider themselves adults.”
Addressing the seminar, NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan highlighted the need to be strict in eliminating the tax compliance gap.
The NBR chairman mentioned the number of VAT registrations in the country is much less than what it should be.
He said that there are four to five lakh VAT registrations, but there is no reason why it should not be 25 lakh.
“We are working on how to increase it,” he added.
NBR member Mohammad Belal Hossain Chowdhury presented the keynote speech at the seminar.
Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Administrator of the apex business organization FBCCI Md Hafizur Rahman and others spoke at the event.
National VAT Day is being celebrated nationwide today. NBR will observe VAT week nationwide from 10 to 15 December.
