National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to lodge departmental cases against default house owners and businessmen in a bid to raise tax earnings.
The tax administration officials said despite having capability, these people living in cities across the country are not paying taxes.
NBR listed 1,66,546 house owners and businessmen a year ago for a drive to realize taxes from them. "To this end, we've instructed on April 22 this year the officials in 29 tax zones, though letters, to fulfill their targets of realizing taxes from the listed persons," a senior official of NBR's Tax Survey and Inspection Department said, eyeing a big amount of taxes.
NBR first prepared a list of defaulters in December 2013 and updated it in January this year.
The NBR senior officer told the Daily Observer: "NBR also issued letters to the default house owners and businessmen to open income tax files and submit tax returns immediately. If anybody among the identified persons fails to comply with the notice, actions would be taken thereof as per rules."
The tax-GDP ratio in Bangladesh is the lowest in the world, even below Nepal. For this reason, it is indispensible to stop tax evasion and increase tax earnings.
The revenue receipts for FY 2015-16 have been estimated at Tk 2,08,443 crore, which is 12.1 per cent of GDP, of which NBR tax revenue is estimated at Tk 1,76370 crore (10.3 per cent of GDP). The government has decided to enhance tax-GDP ratio at any cost. The revenue target is achievable given the comprehensive reforms implemented in NBR tax collection potential and stability in economic environment.