Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam in his budget speech yesterday proposed to reduce duty on the import of non-luxury microbuses, with 1,500cc to 1,800cc engine displacements, to 20 percent from 60 percent.
The adviser said the decision was made since these vehicles are used for transporting industrial raw materials and passengers.
He also proposed to readjust the supplementary duty of 60, 100, 250 and 350 percent on vehicles having higher displacements in a bid to discourage import of luxury vehicles.
In a bid to prevent imports of new vehicles in the guise of reconditioned vehicles, the adviser proposed that to be eligible as a reconditioned car, cars should have a time gap of 365 days between registration and deregistration and the car should run at least 1,000km before shipment.
He also proposed reducing dealer's commission to 20 percent from 30 percent "alongside the readjustment of year-wise depreciation rates as 5, 10, 20 and 30 percent respectively".
He proposed that taxis imported under a special concessionary rate and having completed running eight years as taxis be allowed to be converted into a normal vehicle and get registered accordingly on payment of 20 percent of the duties and taxes exempted at the time of import.
About the new supplementary duty on luxury vehicles, President of Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (Barvida) Abdul Haque said the government decision would affect the business interest of people who want to import luxury vehicle for business purposes.
According to the new supplementary duty, he claimed, "A car between 1,500cc and 2,350cc will come under 60 percent supplementary duty (SD), vehicles between 2,351cc and 3,500cc under 100 percent SD, vehicles between 3,501cc and 4,550cc under 250 percent SD and vehicles over 4,551cc will be under 350 percent SD."
There was no supplementary duty on microbuses till the 2007 budget, the Barvida president said adding that the government should not impose any supplementary duty on these vehicles as they are used for common purposes.