Lack of good and representative governance is the core problem in taxation for the coming budget for 2014-15 financial year, said speakers at a pre-budget discussion meeting on Wednesday. The governance situation is worst at the moment because of increasing incidents of abduction and killing, they said at a meeting jointly organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh and daily Prothom Alo at CA Bhaban in the capital.
Speakers said the government is increasing the size of the budget every year without strengthening the revenue collection mechanism which is eventually resulting in huge shortfall of revenue.
‘There is no taxation without representation. In the current parliament most of the members don’t have peoples mandate. So, this is a problem,’ former advisor to caretaker government Akbar Ali Kahn said.
He said lack of good governance is also a burning issue at this moment which is demoralising the people to pay tax.
He also said the parliamentary standing committees have no authority on the budget formulation.
‘In countries like India or Australia, there is hearing on budget proposal in parliamentary standing committees,’ he said.
M Hafizuddin Khan, trustee board member of Transparency International Bangladesh, said the increasing incidents of abduction and killing have made the current situation fearful for the people.
‘We will see a huge number of police in short distance of walk but the law and order situation is not improving,’ he said.
He said there are huge numbers of projects in the annual development programme which are useless.
‘Many less important projects are getting fund while important projects are deprived sometimes,’ he said.
He also said the government every year announces a huge ADP but later cuts it down because it fails to implement it.
Former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Faruq Ahmed Siddeque said the government is increasing the budget size in line
with the economic growth but not according to the capacity of the National Board of Revenue.
‘We are running the same old tax administration and expecting it to generate higher revenue every year which is not a practical idea,’ he said.
He also said the capital market cannot be a source of funding to large infrastructure projects.
‘In stock market, people want dividend. From a large Greenfield company you will not be able to do that in a short time,’ he said.
Former NBR chairman Abdul Mazid said the government should plan the next year’s budget based on the revised ADP of the current year.
‘Now in our country we follow incremental budget method considering inflation and gross domestic products. But if we consider the RADP then the difference of nominal and actual implementation would lead to more practical budget,’ he said.
ICAB president Shawkat Hossain said the government should ensure effective use of the public money.
‘The government should ensure good governance and the people who are entitled to pay tax should also perform their duty with sincerity,’ he said.
-With New Age input
