Revenue collection increases by 425 percent in 14 years

Revenue collection witnessed a whopping growth of 425 percent over the last 14 years of the Awami League government in three successive terms after it assumed office in 2009 following a landslide victory in 2008 general election.

This eye-catching revenue collection growth is largely attributed to the expansion of multidimensional economic activities as well as extension of trade and commerce side by side increase in income at individual level.

Riding on this huge extent of revenue collection, it has become possible to place huge national budget every year at Jatiya Sangsad and thus conduct massive development activities across the country.

Even, it has also become possible to implement mega projects like Padma Bridge with own funding.

According to the data of the National Board of Revenue (NBR), the revenue collection by the NBR in the fiscal year 2009-10 was Taka 62,042 crore, which increased to Taka 3,25,275 crore in the last fiscal year 2022-23. It means that over the last 14 years, the revenue collection by NBR has increased by about a gigantic 425 percent.

NBR officials said despite the volatile global trade situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the onslaught of the Russia-Ukraine War, Bangladesh's revenue collection successes has received huge attention by the global community. Despite such adverse situation, revenue collection did not decline rather had increased.

Business and investment friendly tax policies and online-based tax services have eased the business operations and at the same time revenue collection has increased due to the rise in the number of taxpayers, said revenue board officials and businessmen.

Talking to BSS, NBR Member Dr. Md. Sahidul Islam said, "The revenue collection in fiscal year 2009-10 was Taka 62,042 crore which increased to Taka 3,25,275 crore in fiscal year 2022-23,"

He said that revenue collection has increased consistently mainly due to tax friendly policies, easy and seamless tax related services and above all sincere cooperation from the tax payers.

The NBR member said despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the adverse global conditions, it was possible to attain revenue growth of 20.06 percent and 12.66 percent respectively in the fiscal years 2020-21 and 2021-22 due to undertaking of various practical and time befitting steps.

During this period, he said the courageous decision for keeping running the import-export operations, domestic trade and economic activities has played a major role in such attainments.

Sahidul said that over the last 15 years, the government has been continuously pursuing taxpayer, business and investment friendly tax policies to build a strong tax culture in the country.

In order to create a modern revenue management, reforms were brought in the VAT Act while the new Income Tax Act has been enacted which have already been implemented.

This senior NBR official also said that online-based taxation systems have been developed to a larger extent in income tax, VAT and customs sectors thereby allowing taxpayers to pay taxes in a hassle-free environment and thus increasing the number of individual taxpayers.

Besides, modern customs management, installation of EFD machines for VAT collection, online tax registration, submission of documents, and the automation activities have made tax related services much easier for the taxpayers.

It should be noted that out of the revenue collection of Taka 3,25,275 crore in the fiscal year 2022-23, the revenue income from import and export duty was Taka 91,720 crore, the revenue collection from VAT was Taka 1,20,633 crore while the revenue collection from income tax and travel tax was Taka 1,12,921 crore.

Regarding NBR's overall revenue collection performances, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Mahbubul Alam told BSS that due to the increase in multi-dimensional economic and commercial activities in the country over the last few years, the revenue income has increased in line with that.

"At the same time, the number of taxpayers has increased due to the increase in the income of people at the individual level. As a result, the revenue collection is also increasing as well," he added.

Appreciating the government's keen attention to increase domestic revenues instead of mobilizing more foreign loans, Mahbubul said that many mega projects are now being implemented with the revenue earned inside the country by avoiding dependency on foreign loans.

The completion of Padma Bridge, Metro Rail, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel beneath the Karnaphuli River are glowing examples of these.

These projects have made people's lives easier as well as having a positive impact on business activities.

The chief of the country's apex trade body also praised the efforts for legal reforms and preparations for building online tax system to build a modern time befitting tax system in the country.

He thinks that if the revenue system is automated completely, then the revenue collection would increase by multiple times and thus reducing the tendency for tax evasion.

The revenue collection target in the current fiscal year 2023-24 has been set at Taka 5 lakh crore. Out of this, NBR will collect Taka 4.30 lakh crore while 70,000 crore will be collected from other sources.