A story headlined ‘VAT collection in Q1 up’ published in Bangladesh Post on Wednesday says Value Added Tax (VAT) collection from large taxpayers grew by 9.17 per cent in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year 2020-21 (FY21).
And the collection has increased by 15 percent in the month of March alone amid COVID-19 pandemic. We think with the increase of VAT collection, it would be possible for the National Board of Revenue (NBR), to help the government to keep the wheel of the economy moving in the current coronavirus situation in the country alongside continuation of the development works.
NBR must make common people and
businessmen understand that there is no
reason for them to think that VAT is a burden
Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU) under the VAT wing of NBR has collected Tk 30.40 billion more VAT than that of te previous (FY20) from cigarette, pharmaceuticals and mobile phone sectors while collection from some major sectors and entities, including large posh hotels and restaurants sees a sharp fall due to the ongoing crisis.
Country’s cigarette industry is the largest contributor, as usual as NBR has collected Tk 27 billion in VAT from it in March alone while revenue collection from mobile phone operators has also increased to Tk 8.0 billion, as use of mobile phones surged significantly in this pandemic. Besides, the pharmaceutical companies also paid higher VAT in the first three quarters making an impressive contribution to revenue collection efforts of the NBR.
We think NBR must make common people and businessmen understand that there is no reason for them to think that VAT is a burden.
Apart from these, we also think the country's eligible citizens will have to pay VAT in order to build a developed and prosperous country as it is not possible to undertakea development works in the country like construction of Padma Bridge, flyovers, without the taxpayers’ money.