Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) leaders on Wednesday urged the government to set the corporate tax rates in Bangladesh in line with regional competitor countries.
The MCCI leaders made the call at a pre-budget discussion with the officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at the tax administration office in Dhaka.
NBR Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem presided over the meeting.
While placing a budget proposal for fiscal 2022-23, MCCI President Md Saiful Islam said although the government has been reducing corporate tax rates over the past two years it is still higher thanthe neighbouring countries.
He also said that expenses and tax dedication at source are so high that the businesses cannot enjoy the benefit of a 5 per cent reduction of corporate tax.
"Here (in Bangladesh) disallowed expenditure as well as tax deduction at source (TDS) is so high that traders are not receiving the benefits of the 5 percent tax cut. In the case of public limited
companies, the corporate tax rate is 22.5percent, but in some cases it ranges from 40-50 percent," he added.
The NBR chairman observed that there were still valid reasons to reduce the current corporate tax rate.
However, he said that such a decision could not be taken considering the risks surrounding revenue collection. The government is giving top priority to industrialization and trade facilitation in adopting any tax policy, he added.
The MCCI leaders made several proposals and suggestions on the existing structure of income tax, VAT and other duties.
Apart from MCCI leaders, senior NBR officials were also present at the programme.
