National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem has said ‘special tax benefits’ can be given to those who are laundering money abroad for fear of paying taxes in the country.
He came up with the statement while addressing a seminar marking National Income Tax Day on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.
Former vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Pran Gopal Dutta, Senior Research Fellow of BIDS Nazneen Ahmed and Managing Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Bangladesh Mamun Rashid also addressed the seminar through a videoconference.
"The NBR should consider whether citizens, who are laundering money abroad over a fear of paying taxes, can keep the money in the country, even if it's through the creation of a tax haven," said Pran Gopal.
In response, the NBR chairman said, "I also agree with the proposal. We have to think about whether special tax benefits can be given to those who are laundering money abroad for fear of paying taxes in the country."
"We have to figure out how to give them opportunities not to do so," he added.
The government does not have a clear estimate of the amount of money that is laundered from Bangladesh every year.
But according to a report published by Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based think tank, earlier this year, around $6 billion was smuggled out of Bangladesh in 2015 in the name of trade.
