The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) said on Saturday the government should not impose any supplementary duty on locally-produced goods.
"In order to promote domestic industry, the government should not impose any supplementary duty on locally produced goods," FBCCI President Md Jashim Uddin said in the first meeting of the trade body's standing committee on Budget, Import Duty, Income Tax, VAT and other taxes held at the FBCCI office in the afternoon.
He said that after graduation from the least developed country (LDC) status, the government would not be able to protect the domestic industry like now.
"Therefore, initiatives should be taken to strengthen the local industry through tax and duty exemption till 2026," he said.
He urged the government not to impose any supplementary duty on domestically-produced products in the next budget.
Mr Jashim Uddin said there had been a positive growth in exports despite the Covid situation.
He, however, said the export earnings increased mainly due to the increase in prices of raw materials in the world market and the profits of the traders did not increase.
"In such a situation, we urge the government not to impose any new tax in the next budget," he said.
He sought an assessment of various automation projects undertaken by the government for revenue management to know whether those were being implemented properly.
Panel advisor of FBCCI and former member of the NBR Md. Farid Uddin said that due to various amendments in 2019, the VAT Act-2012 became the sales tax act.
He recommended a fundamental reform of the law.
He urged the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to remain cautious about the business community so that the businessmen were not harassed by the tax officials.
BTMA President Mohammad Ali Khokon sought repeal of tariffs on man-made fiber in the forthcoming budget, a single rate of duty on import of spare parts, and retention of 15 per cent corporate tax on textiles till 2030.
Committee member and FICCI adviser Snehashish Barua suggested rationalising the advance tax rate and formulating a single rate of value added tax (VAT) in the next budget.
During the meeting, representatives of various other associations and chambers also complained about irregularities and harassment at the hands of VAT officials.
They also suggested that the VAT collection process be brought under full automation.
FBCCI Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, Vice Presidents Salahuddin Alamgir, Md. Habib Ullah Dawn, MA Razzak Khan Raj, Directors Harun Or Rashid, Amjad Hussain, Md. Naser, Dr. Nadia Binte Amin, Syed Sadat Almas Kabir, Abul Kasem Khan and FBCCI Secretary General Mohammad Mahfuzul Hoque were present, among others.
