Budget Fy2014-2015
1pc surcharge on polluting industry likely
The government is going to impose eco tax in the form of surcharge from the coming fiscal year of 2014-15 on industries responsible for polluting environment in a bid to control pollution and encourage establishment of green industries, officials of the National Board of Revenue said. The finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, in his budget speech for the next fiscal year, may propose imposition of the surcharge at the rate of 1 per cent on factories which pollute mainly water bodies, they said.
The industrial units, particularly which will fail to set up effluent treatment plants, will have to pay 1 per cent surcharge on the prices of the products produced by the factories, if the proposal finally gets approval in parliament.
Officials of the revenue board said that most of the industries including tannery, dying, washing and textiles were discharging polluted water into the rivers surrounding Dhaka, Chittagong, Gazipur, Narayanganj and other industrial cities.
Along with discharging liquid wastes in the rivers and other water bodies, other types of industrial wastes are also being dumped into the rivers, they said.
The government has made installation of ETP in every pollution-prone industry mandatory, but most of the factories are not complying with the law despite repeated requests from the government.
The imposition of the surcharge, which may be named as green tax or eco tax, will encourage industrialists to install ETPs in their factories to save the environment from pollution.
Revenue board officials are now working out on how the tax will effectively be imposed and realised, they said.
Considering the cost of pollution in environment, health and overall economy, the government is actively considering to implement the decision from the next fiscal year.
Terming the proposal a good one, the finance minister earlier this month said that eco tax would be imposed to curb industrial pollution.
-With New Age input
