Economic Association for all-out efforts to cut inequality

The Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) today urged the budget planners to employ all possible ways to reduce the inequality related to wealth, income, health, and education.

The coronavirus pandemic has turned Bangladesh into a country with a high level of income inequality. And the Russia-Ukraine war has deepened the inequality, said Prof Md Aynul Islam, general secretary of the BEA.

He placed the proposals during a meeting with the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at the latter's headquarters in the capital's Agargaon.

The association said poverty has increased multi-dimensionally and this would widen further. At the same time, the labour market has been squeezed.

"Households are finding it difficult to maintain family expenses owing to higher inflation. They don't have any money. Because of the difficult situation, many have gone for distressed sales."

"As a result, people's life has become more uncertain than any time in the past. So, if time steps are not taken, there might be further uncertainty in the coming days," said the BEA.

"There is no alternative to creating decent jobs on a large scale to overcome the situation," said Prof Islam.

The BEA recommended imposing a wealth tax, raising the tax rate for the super-rich, levying wealth tax on large investments in share and bond markets, and imposing additional taxes on excess profits.