NBR awards 68 business organisations

Finance Adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam hands over a top VAT-paying organisation award to A Rouf Chowdhury, managing director of Rangs Pharmaceuticals Ltd, yesterday. Rangs Pharmaceuticals is one of the 68 winners of the award for district-level organisations given by the National Board of Revenue.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) yesterday awarded 68 business organisations as top VAT (value added tax) payers at district level in the fiscal year 2007-08.
Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam handed over the prizes to representatives of the winning organizations at a function at Osmani Memorial Auditorium.
Adviser Aziz at the function asked taxpayers to help the government run the country and provide good services to people, by paying their taxes on their own.
“Collecting tax through government enforcement is a lengthy procedure and involves huge costs unless one becomes self-motivated to pay tax,” Aziz said.
The NBR grouped the organisations into various categories such as production, services and trade. The winners got certificates and crests as recognition to their contributions to the national economy.
The names of the best taxpayers were also published in a government gazette.
The finance adviser hoped such initiatives would encourage people to pay taxes. He also assured that the government would take initiatives to implement the proposals placed by the taxpayers.
The proposals include holding a view-exchange meeting with taxpayers at the district level to resolve procedural problems and awarding district level taxpayers as Commercially Important Person (CIP).
Aziz said the government could not provide better service to the people due to resource scarcity. People should think about the government earnings when they demand better services, he said.
He said the developed countries could serve people better as their revenue earnings were up to 60 percent of their GDPs, when Bangladesh's tax is only up to 11 percent of GDP.
NBR Chairman Muhammad Abdul Mazid presided over the ceremony.