The government on Wednesday made the submission of updated tax certificates mandatory for contractors, who want to participate in public sector tenders.
"From now on, we will verify whether their tax file is up to date or not. Those who will not provide us with the last tax assessment copy will lose work," finance minister A H M Mustafa Kamal said.
The minister disclosed this while talking with reporters after a meeting of the cabinet committee on government procurement at his Bangladesh Secretariat office.
He said those who are the contractors of government's development work have the capacity to pay taxes.
"We will see how much wealth they own and how much they pay as tax annually," he added.
The tax certificate has to be submitted with the tender documents. "We believe that we will get new taxpayers this way and increase revenue generation," he noted.
Mr Kamal said through this way, the government will also be able to assess the financial strength and capacity of the contractors.
Asked whether the contractors were not submitting tax certificates at present, the minister said he was not sure about it.
But, he said, the contractors were providing value added tax certificate. "VAT and tax are not the same," he added.
"It (tax certificate) was not compulsory (in the past), but now we made it compulsory, and the cabinet purchase committee will also check it before giving the approval," he added.
Replying to another query regarding payment of advanced income tax, the minister said the procedure will be made easier and automated.
Regarding the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by new cooronavirus, the minister said the government is ready to pay as much money as needed to prevent pandemic.
If needed, the government will finance building specialised hospitals like China to fight the disease, he added.
"The whole world is in danger with the virus. We can't say we are free of it. We need to take measure how to contain infection," Mr Kamal said.
He said everyone have to act from their respective position. "This is not alone the responsibility of health ministry of finance ministry."
"We have financial capability. If health ministry need to buy equipments and other logistical support, I believe the Prime Minister won't disagree to support," he said.
Replying to a query the minister said Bangladesh will get support from the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and other development partners to fight the COVID-19.
