Kaus Mia, tobacco magnate and highest taxpayer, passes away

Md Kaus Mia, the owner of Hakimpuri Zarda, has passed away, aged 94, from old age complications. He breathed his last at Asgar Ali Hospital early on Tuesday.

Apart from being a tobacco magnate, he was most well known for being one of the highest taxpayers in Bangladesh since 2010-11, when the National Board of Revenue (NBR) started recognising the top taxpayers of the country.

Even before independence, in the then East Pakistan, he had received the best taxpayer award in 1967. 

Asked in the interview why he had always been diligent in paying his taxes, he had said, "The country and its people have given me so much. I think I have to give something in return. I wish I could explain to you how much I enjoy paying tax to the government!"

But paying his taxes was just one aspect of his business practices that set him apart.

The ‘haunted’ houses of the country’s highest taxpayer

Born on 26 August 1931 in Chandpur, he started his business career early at the age of 19 after taking Tk2,500 from his mother to set up a grocery store in the old market of Chandpur.

Gradually, he became an agent for 18 cigarette, biscuit and soap brands, and for the next 20 years, he did business in Chandpur. 

In 1970, he moved to Narayanganj and started the tobacco business, which, according to a previous interview with The Business Standard, had earned him Tk400-500 crore.     

"My ancestors never took a loan from a bank and were never involved in politics. I have not done so either. I have not allowed my descendants to do so, too. I have told them to do business and help poor people," he had said in the interview.

But it is important to note that despite being involved in about 40 other types of businesses, his bread and butter had always been zarda or chewing tobacco, the addictive and cancer-causing properties of which might call into question how ethical his business practices were.  

During his lifetime, the businessman had also piqued the public's curiosity with his more than 30 deserted houses in different parts of Dhaka city.

"I have made houses in different places for sons, daughters and relatives to stay. When I liked a house, I bought it. No one lives there now but I know the time will come when some of my family members will not get a place to stay," he had explained.

Even when he was 92, he would stay in the office and work for 10 hours, sometimes longer. Unlike others, he did not have an office in a lavish neighbourhood, his 'chamber' was a room at the Hakimpuri Zarda factory in Old Dhaka's Aga Nawab Dewri Road.  

In his conversations, Kaus Mia often came across as a devout Muslim, thanking Allah for all his successes. 

"I am grateful to the Creator. I hope I will be able to spend the rest of my life like this. The Creator has given me a happy family and a huge fortune. I believe I have performed my duties properly. I have never cheated anyone. Probably, that is the reason people love me so much. Many people do business, but how many get respect from people?"

He will be buried at Azimpur Graveyard, according to family members.