Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) on Sunday called on the revenue authority to declare seven-to-eight-year tax holiday for the tanneries that have relocated to the Savar Tannery Estate.
They also proposed to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to slash value added tax (VAT) rate from 15 per cent to 7.5 per cent on imported chemicals used in export-oriented leather industry in the next budget for fiscal year (FY) 2018-2019.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Agro-Processors' Association (BAPA) proposed NBR to continue cash subsidy on export of agro products till 2022 by increasing the rate from 20 per cent 30 per cent.
The demands were made at a pre-budget meeting with businesses from agro-processing, poultry, chemical, leather and jewellery industry arranged by the NBR at its headquarters in Dhaka city.
Presided over by NBR chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, the programme was also addressed by BTA chairman Md Shaheen Ahamed and BAPA president AFM Fakhrul Islam Munshi.
Speaking at the programme, BTA chairman Ahamed asked the customs authority to provide central bonded warehouse (CBW) facility for the country’s leather industry.
He also demanded tariff exemption on the leather processing chemicals if the imposed rate is over 3.0 per cent for the small and medium tanners who don’t get bonded warehouse facility.
Representatives from Bangladesh Auto Biscuits & Bread Manufacturers Association, Bangladesh Bread Biscuit-O- Confectionery Prostutkarak Samity, Bangladesh Cold Storage Association, Bangladesh Seed Association, Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association-Bangladesh, Bangladesh Jewellers Samity, Bangladesh Poultry Industries Coordination Committee, and Feed Industries Association of Bangladesh were also present at the meeting.
