Speakers at a seminar here on Saturday laid emphasis on ‘tax justice’, and sought proper policy measures to let taxpayers know how and where their taxes are being used apart from ensuring transparency in realising taxes.
They observed that there is a lack of transparency in terms of ‘budget expenditure’ which needs to be addressed so that people feel encouraged to pay tax more willingly.
The experts also said transparency is a key tool to establish accountability, fight corruption and secure a fairer tax system and demanded a modern and transparent tax regime domestically as well as automatic exchange of information internationally in order to fight tax avoidance as well as corruption.
Action Aid Bangladesh arranged the seminar titled ‘Unveiling Tax, Tackling Poverty: Some Policy Considerations’ at Cirdap auditorium in the city.
Executive Director of Policy Research Institute (PRI), Bangladesh Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) Dr Iftekharuzzaman and ActionAid Bangladesh Country Director Farah Kabir, among others, spoke with former adviser to caretaker government M Hafizuddin Khan in the chair.
Director, Programme, Policy and Campaign Asgar Ali Sabri presented the keynote paper at the seminar.
Speaking at the seminar, Dr Iftekharuzzaman said, “We need to ensure tax-justice both in terms of tax realisation and utilisation of realised taxes. People have the right to know where and how their taxes are being spent.”
He said people will feel encouraged and come up with enthusiasm to pay more tax if trust can be built among them that they will be able to know where and how their taxes are being spent.
The TIB Chief said though Bangladesh has improved in terms of national budget ‘transparency index’ due to increasing participation in budget formulation process, the country legs behind as there is no transparency in terms of budget expenditure.
Citing Bangladesh’s ‘defense budget’, he said the budget speech book contains the ‘smallest paragraph’ without necessary explanation. “Defense is for people’s interest. People have the right to know what is being procured.”
The TIB chief also said a government system with accountability will get stronger footing if transparency is ensured in budget expenditure. “We’ve to speak up for it.”
Hafizuddin said ‘equity’ is one of the fundamentals of taxation which remains missing in Bangladesh. “People have the right to know how they’re being benefited by paying tax and where their paid taxes are being spent.”
He said all need to join the campaign for ‘tax-justice’ as each taxpayer wants to see transparency in revenue expenditure and wants to know where their taxes are being spent.
Asgar Ali in his presentation laid emphasis on enhancing capacity of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in line with global tax dynamics.
He also demanded wider policy space for civil society to engage in the tax discourse and participate in the tax policy formulation as well as the revenue raising and redistribution processes.
Source: UNBConnnect