Newspaper owners on Thursday demanded that the high-rated corporate tax for the industry be cut to 10-15 per cent in view of its financial hardship.
In a pre-budget meeting at the National Board of Revenue (NBR), they also sought the lowering of the import duty on newsprints in the upcoming budget for Financial Year 2023-24.
AK Azad, President of the Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh (NOAB), mentioned that the corporate tax for newspaper industry remained high at 27.5 per cent while the tax rates for the profitable readymade garment-exporting companies are 10 to 12 per cent.
Editors of Prothom Alo Matiur Rahman, Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, Manab Zamin Matiur Rahman Chowdhury and Financial Express Shamsul Huq Zahid, among others, also participated in the pre-budget discussion.
Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) senior vice-president Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury spoke from the electronic-media side.
The NBR chairman, Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem, chaired the meeting, also attended by owners of electronic media.
Mr Azad said newspaper industry is a service-providing sector that turned into a sick industry in the era of globalization and digital media, and COVID pandemic worsened the crisis.
"Production cost of newspaper is much higher than that of its selling price. The industry meets the deficit with advertising revenue," the NOAB president said.
He, however, mentioned that both circulation and advertisement revenues of newspaper declined in the COVID situation, compelling the industry owners to count loss.
The prices of newsprint have increased abnormally alongside exchange rates of the US dollar.
Currently, import of newsprint is subject to paying 5.0-percent customs duty, 15-percent VAT, and 5.0-percent Advance Income Tax (AIT).
Tax incidence along with landed cost of newsprint stands at 130 per cent due to rise in transportation cost, he told the meet.
Newspaper industry also has to pay a total of 9.0-percent AIT on its income from advertisement revenues and raw materials at source while its profitability is much lower than that, he added.
However, the advance-paid tax remained as arrears as they are unable to adjust it with the actual payable taxes in the year-end, he said.
Mr Azad demanded waiver of the AIT on advertisement revenues and raw materials.
The NOAB also demanded special incentives to the newspaper industry and exempting newspaper owners from the liability of payment of income taxes of the employees.
The NBR chairman assured the NOAB members of considering the proposals seriously.
"We will try to meet some of the demands in the budget as those deserve consideration," he said.
He said some of the demands, including payment of income tax on behalf of newspaper employees and providing special incentives, are not under purview of the NBR.
The board chairman, however, said he would support the issue of special incentives when it would be raised to the Ministry of Finance.
He pointed out that Bangladesh's tax-GDP ratio remained poor because it has to support industrialization.
"Bangladesh became one of the pioneers in poultry, fisheries, and livestock due to the fiscal benefits in the form of exemptions and it contributed to the increase in protein intake," he said.
The tax-GDP ratio of the Maldives or Nepal is not comparable with Bangladesh as those countries earn from tourism, the NBR chief added.
Mahfuz Anam said the newspaper owners do not want any favour- high corporate tax imposed on newspaper industry is a matter of fairness.
A healthy tax system is a fundamental requirement of a country and newspapers are ready to support its growth, he told the government's revenue authority.
Matiur Rahman said the newspaper industry is not getting any support from government despite placing pre-budget proposals every year.
"We are now in a stage of transition as digital world has grabbed the future of print media," he said.
The government would not lose any revenue with the reduction in corporate-tax rate for the industry as it is already struggling to survive, he added.
Shamsul Huq Zahid said tax collection could be raised by checking tax evasion too.
The NBR chairman said the revenue authority is integrating with the different service-providing entities and focusing on automation to expedite expansion of tax net.
