Revenue earnings increased by 25.23 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2010-11, thanks to a series of measures taken by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
NBR Chairman Nasiruddin Ahmed made the disclosure at a press meet at his office yesterday.
The tax administrator realised
Tk 15,525 crore in July-September this fiscal year, which was Tk 12,397 crore in the same period last year.
Of the total revenues, the increase at import level was 19.12 percent, value added taxes (VAT) at local level went up by 32.16 percent and income taxes by 25.85 percent.
The NBR chief said many more steps are being taken to increase income taxes and VAT and hoped that it would boost revenue earnings further.
He said a 'Meet the Taxpayer' programme would be organised on the second week of every month from November, where the tax commissioners will speak to the taxpayers to get to know of the hassles they face. He said it would narrow the gap between the tax officials and the people.
The NBR chairman also said spot assessment will start from next month. In the first phase, it will start in Chittagong and next, in Dhaka. He said Chittagong and Dhaka have been targeted as many in these two big cities do not pay taxes. NBR aims to bring them under the tax net.
Ahmed said camps will be set up at Karwan Bazar and Islampur in Dhaka for spot assessment.
NBR Member Basir Uddin Ahmed said if anybody submits returns during spot assessments, he would be exempted from submitting wealth statements for the first two years.
NBR Member Aminur Rahman said NBR started a drive against those who did not submit their tax returns in time.