C T Online Desk: The proposed budget encourages tax evaders and discourages honest taxpayers, it says.
The local private research institute, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), on Friday claimed that the government has set an ambitious target in its proposed budget for FY2024-25 to rein in the existing high inflation.
“The proposed budget has set a target to reduce inflation to 6.5% which was hovering over 9% in May. A realistic target should have been taken here,” CPD Executive Director Dr Fahmida Khatun said in a post-budget briefing at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in Dhaka.
She also said they do not notice the activities of macroeconomic stability frames in the proposed budget.
“For the last two years, all economic indicators in Bangladesh have been going through instability. Apart from the dollar crisis, we have noticed negative signs in the banking sector, revenue collection, exports, remittances, and investments. Adequate steps could have been taken to stabilise the economic indicators.”
She said although the revenue collection target has been set higher to meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions, it is unrealistic to reach the target. The real indicators do not align with the gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, reserves, and revenue targets proposed in the budget, she added.
At the briefing, the local think tank said it does not support the provision of whitening black money with a 15% tax and such measures have been taken for the sake of a particular quarter.
Thus the proposed budget has encouraged tax evaders and discouraged honest taxpayers, Dr Fahmida said, as the latter have to pay tax at a 30% rate.
“It is illogical in both morality and economic perspective which cannot be supported,” she added.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali placed a Tk7,97,000 crore national budget for FY25 at the Jatiya Sangsad in presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
