A budget for everyone.

[Banglar Bir]

A budget for everyone

• Asif Showkat Kallol
• Published at 02:00 AM June 01, 2017

The new budget will fund a project to prepare good, durable seeds for pulses, oils and various types of spices for farmers.

From farmers to local industries, the 46th national budget, to be unveiled by the finance minister later today, promises to offer something for everyone.

The Tk4,00,266 cr budget, some 26% larger than the outgoing budget outlay, is expected to meet long-standing demands from various quarters, with an eye on the national polls scheduled for January 2019.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith will place the budget for fiscal year 2017-18 titled “Bangladesh is in development path: This is our time” in parliament at 1:30pm.

More than one-third of the revenue target of Tk2,48,000 cr is expected to be met from VAT. Many are skeptical of these expectations.

The value added tax or VAT – whose rate and reach has been the subject of much speculation and debate – will not be imposed on essential commodities. Agriculture and agricultural products, daily necessities, life-saving medicine and a number of other products will remain untaxed. These exemptions are reported to have originated with instructions from the prime minister.

In the outgoing fiscal, the target for VAT and supplementary duty collection was Tk72,764cr. Early this year, the target was revised down to Tk66,000cr. As of April, only Tk52,842cr had been collected.

Pleasant plans
The new budget will fund a project to prepare good, durable seeds for pulses, oils and various types of spices for farmers.

A Tk9,000 crore subsidy will be kept for agriculture. Of this, Tk 4,000cr will be spent on export, Tk 500 cr on jute goods, Tk5,500cr on electricity, and Tk9,000cr on incentives.

Civil servants will get apartments in Dhaka’s Motijheel area.

A proposal will be put in the budget to create a business-friendly environment for local traders and businessmen.

Additional financial assistance will be provided to the country’s law enforcement agencies. The government will undertake programmes to improve the living standards of rural people.

Citizens in rural areas will get 30 kg rice and Tk200 cash per month.

A project titled “Our Home” will be launched to build shelters for the elderly and for orphaned children.

According to the document: “There is huge development project to be undertaken for the development of roads from cities to villages.”

An allocation will be made to meet the demand of the fisheries sector through the development of ponds and canals across the country.

To meet the shortage of milk, the government will launch dairy cooperatives in 50 upazilas. In the new budget, the announcement of an overall rural development program is being planned.

Supplementary tariff rates are being revised substantially to protect domestic industries. As a result, the price of some products will increase, and the price of others will drop.

Products whose prices may rise include imitation jewellery, colour televisions, SIM cards, bicycles, furniture, TV cards, cigarettes, mineral water and soft drinks.

The prices of ceiling fans, refrigerators, ceramic crockery, smooth diamonds, smartcards, marble stones and tiles may fall.

http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/06/01/a-budget-for-everyone/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Watch: National budget- where does the money go?

• Tribune Desk
• Published at 11:29 AM June 01, 2017
• Last updated at 12:27 PM June 01, 2017

A one-and-a-half minute summary of what the national budget is and the impact it has on our lives

 

[Banglar Bir]

https://www.facebook.com/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Infographic: Massive budget deficit

• Tribune Desk
• Published at 05:14 PM June 01, 2017

The deficit in the budget for FY2017-18 has for the first time exceeded 5% of the estimated GDP, posing a risk for the economy

 

[bdslph]

talking big always
this guy does not know anything ever
i am scared abt the deficit if it keeps on going up i ts a problem
the way BAL gives budget its like it nothing money grows on the trees
hahaha a budget for every one
the price will increase soon after the vat plus there is bribe u have to pay so the essentials for the poor and even middle will be hard for them to buy not affordable

it wont be a problem for corrupt , rich and or the politicians

 

[Banglar Bir]

বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংকের সাবেক গভর্নর অর্থনীতিবিদ ড. সালেহউদ্দিন আহমেদ বলেছেন, ২০১৭-২০১৮ অর্থবছরের বাজেট বাস্তবায়নযোগ্য নয়। তার মতে, প্রস্তাবিত বাজেটে শুধু গাণিতিক হিসাবই প্রধান্য পেয়েছে।

 

[Banglar Bir]

State-owned banks to get Tk2,000 cr to meet capital shortage

• Asif Shawkat Kallol
• Published at 08:31 PM June 01, 2017

The Financial Reporting Act enacted to promote transparency, accountability and international standards of financial reporting is in the final stage
The government has allocated Tk2,000 crore to state-owned banks as recapitalisation funds for the next fiscal year, so they can meet the capital shortage created by loan defaults.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the declaration in his speech on the national budget for FY2017-18 on Thursday at Jatiya Sangsad.

Regarding measures to help prevent future capital shortages for state-owned banks, the minister said: “We have started a computerised system to manage our financial sector along with bringing about significant changes to its legal framework.

Also Read- BASIC to get Tk1,000cr fund

“In addition, the state-run commercial banks have been brought under the core banking solution system. The process of formulation and amendment to various laws, rules, regulations, etc, regarding the Finance Company Act and bank management is in progress.”

Muhith added that the process of forming a council under the Financial Reporting Act, enacted to promote transparency, accountability and international standards of financial reporting, was in the final stage and the chairman of the council had already been appointed.

In the outgoing fiscal year, the government disbursed Tk2,000 crore to state-owned banks, with Basic Bank getting Tk1,000 crore from the allocation in the revised budget.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/banks/2017/06/01/state-banks-capital-shortage/

 

[Banglar Bir]

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:11 PM, June 02, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:23 PM, June 02, 2017
GDP growth won’t make enough sense if new jobs not created: CPD

Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) today said the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will not make enough sense if new jobs are not created to reduce unemployment.

“If jobs are not created and unemployment is not eradicated with the growth, the number of this growth will not make sense enough,” said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow of CPD.

He was presenting a budget analysis at a private television channel this morning a day into Finance Minister AMA Muhith unveiled the country’s proposed budget with 7.4% GDP growth target.

http://www.thedailystar.net/busines...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

12:00 AM, June 02, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 04:05 AM, June 02, 2017
Powered by VAT

Little effort to widen net; budget aims to squeeze existing taxpayers more

Sohel Parvez

Bangladesh is finally going to implement a single and uniform VAT rate, ending the two-and-a-half-decade system of multiple VAT rates for different goods and services.

From July 1, people from all walks of life will have to pay 15 percent VAT (Value Added Tax) on most goods and services.

Over the last several years, the government dithered over the introduction of a uniform VAT rate amid fears that such move would cause a spike in living costs.

However, Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday offered VAT waiver on a host of essentials and services, including edible oil, sugar, basic education, healthcare and medical services as well as life-saving drugs.

He also tried to make the business community happy by fulfilling most of its demands.


Despite the waiver and the revenue authorities' repeated assurance of price stability, concerns of a price spiral remain in the country where allegations of low ethical standards and price manipulations are rife.

Many consumers fear that unscrupulous businesses may charge them higher prices than usual on the excuse of imposition of a flat VAT rate.

Electricity, branded garments, paper, biscuits, rod, jewellery, furniture, tissue paper and apartments will see their VAT rates go up to 15 percent from varied rates that have been applicable to them under the existing VAT Act 1991.

The National Board of Revenue recently suggested that the Power Division don't hike tariff, and that it claim rebate so electricity price doesn't go up for the increase in VAT to 15 percent from 5 percent now.

Eating at non-air-conditioned restaurants would be costlier as VAT on those would go up to 15 percent from 7.5 percent.

Rod and brick prices may also increase due to an end to the existing tariff value-based VAT.

Many consumers fear they would have to pay more for biscuits, paper and exercise books.

Muhith, however, said the prices of essential commodities are likely to come down as those are exempted from VAT.

Their prices are not supposed to increase under any circumstances, he said.

The new VAT system uniformly spreads the tax burden at every stage of transaction and doesn't create unnecessary tax burden at any particular stage, claimed the finance minister.

“It allows the taxpayers to pay VAT only on the value addition they make at their end.”

But Azharul Haque Azad, president of Fashion Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh, said it would be difficult for many businesses to claim rebate.

He said 80 percent of the suppliers of local fashion houses are weavers, and they don't have VAT registration and usually don't keep records.

“So, we will not be able to claim rebate,” said the president of the lobby group of local boutique houses.

“Ultimately, the burden of the additional VAT will fall on the buyers' shoulders.

“If 15-percent VAT is imposed on handloom saris, their prices would automatically rise. Customers would feel discouraged to buy them and the weavers' production will be affected,” he said, adding that only 4 percent VAT is now imposed on branded garments.

Azharul, who owns fashion house Sadakalo, also feared that some businesses may start charging buyers extra before July 1 when the new VAT law comes into effect.

VAT was introduced in 1991. More than two decades later, the government formulated the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act, which provides for imposition of a uniform VAT rate.

The government had initially planned to implement the new law from July 2015, but it backtracked twice amid opposition from businesses, which said their concerns were not addressed properly in the law.

Revenue officials say the new law has been framed to boost revenue collection from domestic economic activities, as the existing law suffers from various limitations such as package VAT.

The economy has expanded a lot over the last several years but potentials for increasing revenue collection cannot be tapped fully without going for a new VAT law.

VAT is now the biggest source of revenue. It accounted for nearly 36 percent of the NBR's total revenue collection of Tk 150,000 crore in fiscal 2015-16.

The government has set a VAT collection target of Tk 91,344 crore in the coming fiscal year, around 33 percent higher than the revised VAT collection target of Tk 68,768 crore in the outgoing fiscal year.

At present, VAT rates ranging from 1.5 percent to 10 percent are applicable to more than 80 products, including newsprint, biscuits, paper, rod and bricks, and nearly 20 services.

But the VAT rates would go up to 15 percent with the imposition of a uniform VAT rate from fiscal 2017-18.

“This rate will be 15 percent, which will be unchanged over the next three years,” said the finance minister.

Many consumers and businesses have already become accustomed to paying 15 percent VAT since 1991, he said.

A considerable milestone towards implementing the new act was achieved by incorporating some structural changes in the new law, proposed by the business community on several occasions, mentioned the minister.

“Now the business community is also ready to accept and welcome the new VAT.”

VAT appears to be one of the best forms of tax. But some businesspeople don't want to keep accounts at different stages of production and service delivery under the VAT system, he said.

Of the 8.5 lakh registered firms, only 32,000 pay VAT, the minister pointed out.

The government hopes the number of return filers would go up to 60,000 within the next two years.

To make businesses happy, Muhith suggested raising the VAT-free turnover ceiling to Tk 36 lakh from Tk 30 lakh. The firms with this annual turnover will be completely out of the scope of tax.

He also proposed raising the threshold for registration under VAT to Tk 1.5 crore a year from the existing Tk 80 lakh, and also imposing 4 percent turnover tax on the businesses.

Revenue officials say the raise in threshold would cause an estimated loss of Tk 10,000 crore in revenue.

The minister termed the increase in the turnover ceiling “a unique opportunity for small entrepreneurs”, which is not available in other countries.

Several changes have been incorporated in the new law to simplify the VAT collection procedures according to the proposals of the business community, he said.

He also suggested keeping 1,666 items under the scope of supplementary duty on import, instead of bringing down the number to 170 as envisaged in the new law, to protect the interest of domestic industry.

12:00 AM, June 02, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 05:22 AM, June 02, 2017
Big target, tricky route

Muhith unwraps fat budget; plagued by dip in remittance inflow, export growth, he counts on aggressive revenue scheme

Inam Ahmed

Mega dreams require mega shake-ups, sometimes crushing ones, especially if you have little control over costs and transparency. Finance Minister AMA Muhith's proposed budget has come with the same impact -- putting the people through the VAT machine to take out every mint possible to be spent on a budget that is bigger by a quarter than the present one.

No doubt that a middle income country will need to use VAT to collect revenue, but what has made the case questionable here is the rate and coverage of the tax in a country which has just crossed the threshold of achieving that middle income status.

Moreover, Muhith's budgetary measures will cause price increases at various levels from production to cost of living, as supplementary duty will be applicable to producers and VAT to the consumers.

The middle class will feel the pinch of VAT in every way to reduce their quality of life. However, the finance minister has somehow tried to compensate it with wider social safety net programmes.

His two nagging new challenges -- fall in remittance and poor growth in exports -- remain unanswered in the budget. A forecast of economic recovery next year is probably his best hope as he has mentioned frequently throughout the budget speech.


But much of the readymade garment export is now our own structural problem including the lack of malleability of exchange rate. The finance minister has dwelled less on the issue before offering a reduced corporate tax to the sector.

The fact is, reducing corporate tax may increase investible capital for the investors but will not go to create market demand. He could have rather added some incentives to the existing ones to make products competitive.

And his hope on remittance is likely to remain elusive as oil price forecast still looks bleak, spelling further dark days for the petro-economies.

Muhith wants a higher growth rate of over 7 percent. And for that he hopes to rope in private investment. Low bank interest rate is a vital component to spur and sustain such initiative as Muhith has rightly pointed out. But he remains silent on putting the tattered banking system back into form again. As long as the banks remain in the present sorry state, more and more loans will go bad and cost of funds will remain higher. Hence, his hope of lowered interest rate will remain unmet.

On the contrary, Muhith has once again proposed Tk 2,000 crore to recapitalise the banks. Last time he did that after the massive banking scandals as thousands of crores of taka were siphoned off the state-owned banks by some unscrupulous business groups. So every year, the taxpayers have to feed those who regularly rob our banks.

One of his growth mantras -- to generate consumption demand -- is also debatable because it mostly depends on public spending. Remittance that plays a vital role to spike consumption across the country is fizzling out. The across the table VAT imposition will have a choking effect on private expenditures too. These facts in no sense explain how internal demand will rise.

Rather, he could have thought of increasing disposable income of the people by either increasing the tax-free slab in income tax or reducing the lowest tax rate. He did neither.

Apart from more VAT collection, Muhith's other source of collecting money to fund mega projects is foreign financing, which he has projected to increase by 68 percent from that in this year's revised budget. It is beyond our perception since when and how Bangladesh suddenly achieved this kind of superb implementation capacity. And if the figures are only for the sake of figures, the consequence will be a budgetary mismatch, a huge deficit, a bigger bank borrowing, and all the other knock-on effects.

Half of the foreign finance will come from institutional lenders and that makes good sense. But the rest comes from untested and little tested non-conventional sources. Costs of such funds are high and projects conceived with such funds are often costlier. When such factors meet, the economic returns become weak.

http://www.thedailystar.net/Bangladesh-Budget-2017-18/frontpage/big-target-tricky-route-1414255

 

[Banglar Bir]

The Budget is big: Does size matter?
Azzam Khan, June 2, 2017

Bangladesh’s Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith placed the annual national budget of the 2017-18 fiscal in parliament on Thursday, with an outlay of Tk 400,266 crore (Tk 4 trillion approx). This is 17.5 percent higher than the Tk 340,147 crore of the preceding 2016-17 fiscal.

The targeted GDP growth rate in this proposed budget is an ambitious 7.4 percent, exceeding the 7.24 per cent target of the outgoing fiscal. The finance minister also predicted that inflation will come down to 5.5 percent by the end of the fiscal year.

The proposed revenue target of the 2017-18 fiscal is Tk 2,87,990 crore (Tk 2.87 trillion) and foreign grants Tk 5,504 crore.

Of the revenue target, Tk 256,812 crore is expected to come from tax revenue, Tk 248,190 crore from NBR tax revenue, Tk 8,622 crore from Non-NBR tax revenue, and Tk 31,179 crore from Non-Tax revenue.

According to AMA Muhith, the budget deficit stands at Tk 1.12 trillion (Tk 112,276 crore) which is 5 per cent of the GDP and constitutes over 28 per cent of the total budget outlay.

The finance minister projected that of the budget deficit, Tk. 46,420 crore will come from external sources and Tk. 60,352 crore from domestic sources. Of the domestic sources, Tk. 28,203 crore will come from the banking system and Tk. 30150 crore from savings certificates and other non-banking sources.

The minister allocated Tk 2,34,013 crore for non-development and other expenditure. The annual development programme (ADP) has been fixed at Tk. 153,331 crore.

The annual outlay for the next financial year is 18 per cent of the GDP while the amount of revised expenditure outlay of the current fiscal stands at 16.2 per cent of the GDP.

All eyes on the VAT Act
VAT, or Value Added Tax (VAT), had been the focus of attention and the business community had long been negotiating with the government over the issue. This budget has seen several changes in the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act 2012.

The VAT Act will come into effect from 1 July.

The salient features of the VAT and Supplementary Duty Act include:

• Tax exemption for those with a registered annual turnover of Tk 36 lakh
• A raise in the threshold for VAT registration from Tk 80 lakh to Tk 1.50 crore. Businesses having a turnover from Tk 36 lakh up till Tk 1.50 crore will have to pay a 4 per cent turnover tax. VAT registration will apply to turnovers above Tk 1.50 crore with a 15 per cent VAT to be paid.
• Family members in a business will not be included in the definition of partners.
• Local industries will get the same protection in the new act as provided by the 1991 act.
• Supplementary duty has been imposed on all products under 1,666 HS line to protect business.
• Agricultural products, poultry, livestock, fish, fruits, vegetables, edible oil, sugar, salt, cotton, jute, and silk yarn have been kept out of the VAT net.

The VAT rate will remain uniform at 15 percent for the next three consecutive years

Prices, up and down
Products seeing an up in prices include bidi, cigarettes, foreign mobile phones, UPS/IPS, air coolers, school textbooks, flour, talcum powder, ECG and ultrasonography recording paper, children’s drawing and picture books.

Products seeing a down in prices include LP gas cylinder (capacity below 5000 litres), batteries, solar panels, hybrid vehicles, WiFi/Wimax LAN cards, locally assembled or manufactured cellular phones, laptops, pad and tablet computers, petroleum jelly, poultry and dairy food, locally made motorcycles, video-conference devices, LED lamps and bulbs, spare parts of diesel engines, ball bearings, machinery parts, gear boxes, brakes, and fire resistant doors.

Customs duties have been increased on cocoa powder, poultry feed, foreign mobile sets, memory cards, tubes, pipes and fittings, vacuum cleaners and fishing nets for finishing trawlers.
Foreign mobile handsets will be costlier as import duty has been proposed to 10 per cent from existing 5 per cent.

Pay more to fly
The finance minister has proposed a revision of the existing excise duty on airline tickets except for domestic travels and travel to the SAARC countries which will remain the same as present.

He proposed Tk 2,000 excise duty on airline tickets instead of the existing Tk 1,000 for travel to any Asian country except the SAARC ones and Tk 3,000 excise duty on airline tickets instead of the existing Tk 1,500 for travel to Europe, USA and other countries of the world. This excise duty will be collected at the time of purchasing air tickets.

Bank depositors pay more too
People depositing their money in banks will have to pay more too.No excise duty will be imposed on accounts where the balance, whether debit or credit, does not exceed the limit of Tk 1 lakh at any point of time during a year. However, Tk 800 excise duty, instead of existing Tk 500, will be imposed in cases where the balance, whether debit or credit, exceeds Tk 1 lakh but does not exceed the limit of Tk 10 lakh.

Similarly, Tk 2,500 will be imposed instead of existing Tk 1,500, in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 10 lakh but does not exceed the limit of Tk 1 crore; Tk 12,000 will be imposed instead of existing Tk 7,500 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 1 crore but does not exceed the limit of Tk 5 crore; and Tk 25,000 will be imposed instead of existing Tk 15,000 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 5 crore.

Implementation is the key
This is the 46th annual budget and perhaps the most ambitious one Bangladesh has seen. With elections not far off, it was expected that this budget would have big visions and feed the electorate with dreams.

But it can be demoralizing as a nation if the government offers big dreams and then fails to deliver on the dreams. Ambition is certainly welcome, but with a dose of pragmatism.
Past experience points to repeated failure in achieving the projected target.
Poor planning and lack of implementation reduce an ambitious budget to mere rhetoric.
It is important for the government to exert all efforts to stay on track with the big picture offered by the budget. Where the budget is concerned, size matters, but it is not everything.

http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/06/02/budget-big-size-matter/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Finance Minister’s Tk 4 trillion budget
Holiday Desk

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has unveiled a mega budget of Tk 4,00,226 crore with an ambitious 7.4 percent GDP growth prospect for Bangladesh during the FY 2017-18. This is Muhith’s 11th budget at parliament.

The total size of Annual Development Programme (ADP) has been set at Tk 1,64,085 crore. The revenue generation target has been set at Tk 2,87,991 crore leaving a deficit of Tk 1,12,275 crore. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is expected to generate a total of Tk.2,48,190 crore of the targeted revenue and the target of Non-NBR tax revenue collection has been fixed at Tk.8,662 crore.
The target of non-tax revenue collection has been set at Tk.31,179 crore.

According to finance minister’s plan, the government wants to source Tk. 32,149 crore from savings certificates and other non-banking sources and Tk. 28,203 crore from the banking system.
This time around, the key factor would be the financing of this budget with the remittance inflow – a major revenue source of Bangladesh which has however been dwindling throughout the past year. Earlier the cabinet approved the national budget with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chairing the special meeting at the parliament complex.

The new budget is going to be around 26 percent bigger in size from the outgoing current fiscal year. The size of the budget is nearly four times the size of the budget of fiscal 2008-09, the last before the current Awami League government assumed power.

The total revenue target is likely to be 29 percent higher at Tk 288,000 crore. A big chunk—Tk 248,000 crore—will come from the NBR, 34 percent higher than the current year’s target, according to the National Board of Revenue.

Traders, business people and the public are worried about the fallout of imposing a 15 percent flat value added tax (VAT) for all. Of the total budgetary outlay, Tk 153,331 crore would be set aside for development expenditure and the rest for non-development expenditure.
Salaries and allowances of government staff, interest payment and subsidies would account for more than half of the non-development expenditure.

 

[Banglar Bir]

The India Doctrine
3 hrs ·
Md Harun Ur Rashid

ব্যাংক অ্যাকাউন্টে ১ লাখ থাকলে ভ্যাট ৮০০
- আবাল মাল

ব্যাংক হিসাবে কমপক্ষে ১ লাখ টাকা থাকলে আবগারি শুল্ক বাড়ছে। বৃহস্পতিবার ২০১৭-১৮ অর্থবছরের প্রস্তাবিত বাজেটে অর্থমন্ত্রী আবুল মাল আবদুল মুহিত এ কথা বলেন।

এত দিন বছরের যে কোনো সময় ব্যাংক হিসাবে ২০ হাজার টাকা পর্যন্ত থাকলে আবগারি শুল্ক আরোপ করা হতো না। এখন ১ লাখ টাকার ক্ষেত্রে তা প্রযোজ্য হবে।

ব্যাংক হিসাবে এক লাখ টাকা থেকে ১০ লাখ টাকা পর্যন্ত থাকলে আবগারি শুল্ক (এক্সাইজ ডিউটি) দিতে হবে ৮০০ টাকা, যা বর্তমানে রয়েছে ৫০০ টাকা। আর ১০ লাখের ওপর থেকে এক কোটি টাকায় বর্তমানে দেড় হাজার টাকা আবগারি শুল্ক দিতে হয়। এখন তা বাড়িয়ে আড়াই হাজার টাকা করা হয়েছে। এক কোটির ওপর থেকে পাঁচ কোটি রাখার ক্ষেত্রে বর্তমানে আবগারি শুল্ক দিতে হয় বছরে সাড়ে সাত হাজার টাকা। শুল্কহার বাড়ানোয় দিতে হবে ১২ হাজার টাকা। আর পাঁচ কোটি টাকার ওপরে থাকলে এক বছরে আবগারি শুল্ক ১৫ হাজার টাকার পরিবর্তে ২৫ হাজার টাকা দিতে হবে। বছরে একবার এই হার কাটা হবে।

 

[Banglar Bir]

Muhith: Excise on bank savings will stay

• Asif Showkat KallolIshtiaq Husain
• Published at 09:23 PM June 02, 2017

Bank account holders are wealthy if they can put Tk1 lakh in an account, says the finance minister
Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said that he will not withdraw the added excise duty on bank account transactions above Tk1 lakh because people who have such amount in the bank are affluent.

Muhith proposed Tk800 excise duty on bank account debits and credits between Tk1 lakh and Tk10 lakh in the budget for fiscal year 2017-18 on Thursday. The duty increases after Tk10 lakh.

“Those who put Tk1 lakh in bank, they are rich people in the context of our country. They can afford this additional burden, there will be no problem,” said Muhith.

The finance minister was addressing a post-budget briefing at Osmani Auditorium in the capital on Friday.

Muhith said imposition of excise duty limit has been increased from Tk20,000 to Tk1,00000. Earlier, account holders had to pay Tk150 for a transaction of Tk20,000.

 

[Banglar Bir]

দারুণ বুদ্ধি অর্থমন্ত্রীর
staff reporter 2 hours ago
তনের টাকা থেকে সরকারকে আয়কর দিতে হয়। যে বাড়িতে থাকি তার ট্যাক্স দিতে হয়। বিদ্যুৎ বিল দেবো সেখানেও ভ্যাট দিতে হয়। আপনজনের সঙ্গে মোবাইল ফোনে কথা বললেও দিতে হচ্ছে কর। অসুস্থ হয়ে ডাক্তারের কাছে গেলে দিতে হয় মোটা অঙ্কের ফি। আগে যে ডাক্তার ফি নিতেন ৫০০ টাকা। বর্তমানে সেই ডাক্তারকে দিতে হয় হাজার টাকা। রিপোর্ট দেখাতেও দিতে হয় ৫/৬ শ’ টাকা। কারণ ডাক্তারও যে আয়কর দেন

। সে আয়করতো উঠাতে হবে রোগীর কাছ থেকেই। ওষুধ কিনতে গেলাম সেখানেও ভ্যাট সংযুক্ত করে সিরাপ, ইনজেকশন, ইনসুলিন, ক্যাপসুল ও ট্যাবলেটের দাম নির্ধারণ করা হয়েছে। সেভাবেই কিনতে হচ্ছে জীবন বাঁচানোর ওষুধ। কোনো রেস্টুরেন্টে খেতে গেলে ধরিয়ে দিচ্ছে বিল। যেখানে সংযুক্ত করা হচ্ছে ভ্যাট। সেটাও দিতে হয়। কোথাও বেড়াতে যাব। খালি হাতে কিভাবে যাই। মিষ্টির দোকানে গেলাম। এখানেও একই অবস্থাÑভ্যাটসহ দিতে হচ্ছে বিল। শুধু কি তাই? না!

যে কোনো প্যাকেটজাত পণ্য কিনতে কোনো স্টোরে গেলে সেখানেও একই অবস্থা। ভ্যাটসহ দাম নির্ধারণ করা আছে। সেখানেও দিতে হচ্ছে উপরি টাকা। শিশু গুঁড়ো দুধ খায়। ভ্যাট ছাড়া এই দুধ কেনা কার সাধ্য আছে? আজও একটি শার্ট কিনতে গিয়ে দিতে হলো ৪% ভ্যাট। কথা নেই, বার্তা নেই বাড়িওয়ালা এসে হাজির। গ্যাসের দাম ৯৫০ টাকা হয়েছে। বিদ্যুতের দাম বাড়বে। জুন মাস থেকে ৩০০০ টাকা করে বেশি ভাড়া দিতে হবে। কিছু বললে উত্তর আসে- আপনার মনে চাইলে থাকুন।

নাহলে চলে যান। কোথায় যাব? গ্রামে বসবাস করবো? তাতে কি? একটি ঘর থাকলেই ইউনিয়ন পরিষদ থেকে খাজনার অঙ্ক জানিয়ে দেবে। তা পরিশোধ করতেই হবে। ভাবছি বিদেশ যাবো। বিমানের টিকিট কেনার সময়ই সরকারের কর কেটে নেবে তিন হাজার টাকা। এখনেও খেতে হলো ধাক্কা। গ্রামের জমি বিক্রি করে কিছু টাকা ব্যাংকে রাখা হয়েছিল ফিক্সট ডিপোজিট করে। এখন দেখি আবগারি শুল্ক কেটে বছর গেলে টাকার অঙ্ক কমে যাবে।

ব্যাংকে লাভের জন্য রেখে এভাবে আবগারি কর কাটতে কাটতে দেখা যাবে একসময় আসল টাকাই সরকার খেয়ে ফেলেছে। আর আমি শূন্য হাতে বাড়ি ফিরতে হবে। দারুণ বুদ্ধি অর্থমন্ত্রীর। একজন মানুষকে এমনভাবে করের নেটওয়ার্কে বেঁধেছেন অর্থমন্ত্রী যার তুলনা হয় না। বাংলাদেশে একজন মানুষ বসবাস করতে তার নিত্যদিন কত টাকা ভ্যাট দিতে হচ্ছে? তার হিসাব কষলে মাথা ঘুরে যায়। আয়ের টাকা ভ্যাটের পেছনেই যদি ঢালতে হয়, তাহলে সুন্দরভাবে বেঁচে থাকার উপায় থাকলো কোথায়?
http://somoy.net/darun-idea/55554

 

[bdslph]

proven not a budget for any one
middle class like us will suffer
just imagine what will happen to low class people