Govt mulls not to fix land price
The government is mulling to stop fixing the price of land to put an end to creation of black money and evasion of tax, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday.
“Fixing the land price is one of the major causes of money laundering. We are thinking about not to keep any fixed land price,” he said after a pre-budget meeting with the Economic Reporters' Forum at the secretariat. He said a meeting on land price also took place earlier on the day.
The minister said land is sold at much higher rate than the government-fixed price. “In this way black money is created.” “So, the government will not fix the land price; rather the market will determine it. That will be a step against money laundering.”
A finance ministry official said the government is thinking of doing away with the fixed rate not only to stop the creation of black money but also to forestall tax evasion.
As the government rate is much lower than the actual price paid for a piece of land, the revenue earning from the sector is low, said the official.
Another official said initiatives to stop fixing land price were taken in the past but they did not see the light of day.
In the pre-budget meeting, the finance minister said the budget for the upcoming fiscal year would be a little over Tk 400,000 crore. “The size of the budget will be finalised in the next few days. It may be Tk 6,000 crore to Tk 7,000 crore more than Tk 400,000 crore.”
The budget for 2017-18 to be unveiled on June 1 will be Muhith's 11th in his career. “I think this is practically the last effective budget in my life.”
“The budget for 2018-19 will not come up with new initiatives and will not contain any proposal that will make somebody unhappy.”
“As that budget will be before the national elections there will be little scope for realising money from anybody forcibly.”
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