Tax receipts from stocks fall by half

The government's earnings from stock trading declined by half in 2012, as the trading volume was on the decline with a downward trend in share prices continuing for the second consecutive year.
The government earned tax worth Tk 100.11 crore in the just concluded year, down from Tk 207.84 crore in the previous year, according to statistics from the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
The daily turnover on the premier bourse came down by almost 63 percent to the Tk 250-crore level at the year-end, from around Tk 670 crore at the beginning of 2012.
The daily transaction volume also declined by 45 percent to 6.92 crore shares and mutual fund units in December, from 12.69 crore at the beginning of the year.
The benchmark index of the premier bourse, DGEN, went down by 21 percent to 4,219 points on December 30, from 5,351 points on January 1 last year.
The DSE, on behalf of the government, collects the tax as brokerage commission at 0.05 percent and deposits the amount to the state coffer.
The government's earnings from tax on sales of sponsor and placement shares also declined last year.
The government bagged Tk 82.38 crore in tax from share sales by sponsor shareholders and placement holders in 2012, against Tk 100.35 crore a year ago.
“The earnings are related to turnover. It's usual that tax will fall if turnover declines,” said Shafiqur Rahman, deputy general manger of the DSE.
“The turnover marked a significant fall in 2012, so did tax,” he added.

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