Chittagong Chamber President Omar Hajjaz said that the opportunity to whiten black money in the proposed budget will prevent money laundering. He said that the opportunity to show undisclosed income or assets by paying 15 percent tax can play a role in curbing money laundering.
He said these things during the immediate budget response at the Bangabandhu Conference Hall of the World Trade Center in Agrabad on Thursday (June 6) afternoon.
Omar Hajjaz said that the total expenditure in the budget is 7 lakh 97 thousand crore taka, the total income is 5 lakh 41 thousand crore taka and the total debt is 2 lakh 56 thousand crore taka. To meet the budget deficit, borrowing will be taken from domestic and foreign sources. We consider the emphasis on domestic sources over external borrowing to deal with deficit budgets as an expression of domestic capacity.
He said that inflation is the biggest headache in the current situation. Inflation has been set at 6.5 percent in the budget but in reality inflation has been more than 9 percent for two years. The purchasing power of the common people is decreasing under the pressure of rising commodity prices. In this context, the budget has reduced the tax deducted by banks or financial institutions to one percent from the previous two percent on LCs for the import of daily necessities, which is promising.
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Claiming that reducing the budget of the Ministry of Industry is not helpful for the industrial development of the country, he said that the government has finalized the draft export policy for 2024-27. However, the lower allocation of the Ministry of Industry to play a role in the domestic industrialization of the country is not helpful in the development of industry. Therefore, the budget of this ministry needs to be increased.
In addition, the president of the Chamber opined that the increase in the specific tax rate on all types of bricks, which are essential in the construction sector, will increase the cost of various ongoing projects, which will have a negative impact on the construction industry.
He also said that the tax burden on middle income taxpayers will be reduced to a certain extent according to the new classification of normal individual taxpayers and firm tax rates in the budget, which will help them to cope with the pressure of inflation and keep domestic market demand moving. But an increase in tax rates for high-income taxpayers may have some adverse effect on overall investment.
The chamber president said the tax rate for private companies has been conditionally increased from 27.5 percent to 25 percent and for one-person companies from 22.5 percent to 20 percent, which will encourage investment growth and help in job creation. With the aim of implementing Smart Bangladesh, it has been proposed to keep the operations of various IT-based organizations cashless for three years, which is commendable.
At the same time, the duty on the import of raw materials required for some domestic industries has been reduced, which is a positive opinion given by the president of the chamber.
At this time, the president of the chamber applauded the government for the decision to establish an engineering college in Chittagong and to set up a land-based LNG terminal with a capacity of 1000 million cubic feet per day in Matarbari and requested for the speedy implementation of the projects.
AAZ/EA/GKS
