Tax receipts rise 18pc on political calm

Tax receipts rose 18 percent year-on-year to Tk 49,874.68 crore in July-October, spurred by taxmen's efforts, political stability and increased imports.

Tax collection soared 20 percent to Tk 13,439 crore in October from the same month last year, according to data compiled by Bangladesh Bank that cited preliminary statistics from the National Board of Revenue. The NBR is yet to release its latest collection data.

“We had a healthy beginning. Various indicators of the economy advanced positively. A reflection of that will be seen in all areas,” said NBR Chairman Md Nojibur Rahman, citing economic growth at over 7 percent last fiscal year.    

Rahman expects growth will be faster at the end of the fiscal year.

“Commissioners are sharpening their strategies. All are hopeful that growth will be higher,” said Rahman, adding that tax collection efforts have been rising.

Tax receipts will also increase in the coming months due to higher implementation of the annual development programme or ADP, he said.

“ADP implementation is rising,” he said, expecting revenue receipts to rise further thanks to higher credit flow.

“We have also seen growth in exports and imports.”

Bangladesh imported goods worth $14.39 billion in July-October, up 8 percent year-on-year, according to central bank data.

Exports grew 6.3 percent in July-November, according to the Export Promotion Bureau.

Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute, said growth in tax collection can be attributed to import growth, political stability and higher commodity prices in the international market. “It's an improvement over last year.”

Tax collection growth was 13 percent in July-October last fiscal year.

Low commodity prices had an impact on import and revenue collection last year, Mansur said.

Strikes and blockades affected the economy last year, but 2016 has been marked by political calm that helped sustain domestic demand, he said.

A senior official of NBR said collection of value-added tax soared, particularly from cigarettes this fiscal year, owing to a supplementary duty hike.

Rahman said the NBR focuses on VAT collection while it also aims to broaden the tax net.

“We also expect good growth in direct tax collection,” he said, citing increasing registration for electronically generated taxpayer identification numbers and the launch of online filing of returns. Despite improvement in collection, Mansur said the overall collection target is unlikely to be achieved. It is overambitious, he added.

The government set a Tk 203,152 crore tax collection target for NBR this fiscal year ending in June next year, which was 31 percent higher than the total tax receipts of Tk 155,518 crore in fiscal 2015-16.

Overall collection until October was one-fourth of the total target. But Rahman said he and his colleagues are hopeful of hitting the target by the end of the year.

“We will be achieving our target at the end of the day.”