Revenue target remains unrealistic

For the first time in the country, the revenue target of the National Board Revenue (NBR) has not been raised in the budget for the next fiscal year.

This appears to offer some relief in revenue collection target, but the target remains unrealistic.

The state of revenue collection through the NBR in the current financial year indicates that the revenue board might collect Tk2.20 lakh crore in revenue by the end of the fiscal.

In the next year's budget announced by the finance minister, the revenue collection target has been set at Tk3.30 lakh crore – up by about 43% compared to the current year's collection.

This target is unrealistic for two reasons. First, the NBR has never seen a growth of over 17%. On top of that, the board saw a negative growth in the last financial year in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic has kept raging across the world.

Secondly, the budget proposes various measures including corporate tax rate cut, tax exemption for setting up new industries, VAT exemption on home appliances and exemptions on VAT and duties for various sectors. These will reduce revenue earnings. As a result, if the coronavirus situation does not improve, a positive growth cannot be expected in the next financial year as well.

A general review of the budget shows that the finance minister wanted to appease the business community by announcing some concessions. But, the budget does not match the needs of the present time. It should have been a budget for protecting lives and livelihoods amid the coronavirus situation.

The words "Corona" and "Covid" are there in the budget, but distribution of resources does not show that the problem has got proper importance. Allocation for the health sector has not increased that much.

Seeing with the naked eye, the NBR was more focused on tax concessions in the budget. However, these concessions are at the company level. Companies have been given huge discounts on production and investment. This involves long-term benefits.

But for now, the common people have not got anything. Tax/VAT concessions have not been announced on any product. There is no announcement to give special support to the poor either.