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com/2015/06/08/95692
VOL 22 NO 204 REGD NO DA 1589 | Dhaka, Monday, June 08 2015
zones (EZs) in 15 years but there is no plan to allocate land for local investors. The minor fiscal
incentives will be offset by high bank interest rate, non-availability of land, infrastructure and
good governance, uncertainty about political stability etc.
The Finance Minister proposed some changes in the tax thresholds that would offer some relief
to the individual taxpayers. Publicly-traded companies, banks, insurance and financial
institutions other than merchant banks will be paying 2.5 per cent less tax on their profits in the
next fiscal. In contrast, the budget imposed tax on poultry industry and restructured the tax rates
of poultry feed, dairy, pisciculture, shrimp, horticulture etc. He has proposed changes in
supplementary duties on a wide variety of imported goods, apparently, with the objective of
reducing the level of protection enjoyed by the domestic industries in various sectors of the
economy for long. He has also proposed increase in the source tax on apparel exports from 0.3
per cent to 1.0 per cent.
The government hopes to initiate supply of gas from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) by
mid-2017, although necessary infrastructure including building of an LNG terminal and the
pipeline is not yet completed. This may be good news, if the project is implemented as proposed.
The Finance Bill 2015 has proposed a six-tier tariff structure - zero per cent, 1.0 per cent, 2.0 per
cent, 5.0 per cent, 10 per cent and 25 per cent - for the next FY, from the existing five-tier ones.
Presently, zero per cent, 2.0 per cent, 5.0 per cent, 10 per cent and 25 per cent tariffs are
applicable. Businesses were acquainted with the five-tier tariff structure. They hope the new 6tier tariff structure will not destabilise the market and it will be good for local manufacturers and
traders.
Also, regulatory duty (RD) on some 2,500 products has been lowered to 4.0 per cent. The
indemnity bond facility for import of capital machinery by export-oriented industries under the
duty-free facility has been scrapped in the proposed budget. Currently, exporters are enjoying
zero duty on import of capital machinery while other industries are paying 2.0 per cent duty for
it.
The Finance Bill 2015 has proposed to reduce the rate of regulatory duty on products, on which
maximum 25 per cent duty is applicable (with some exceptions), and 10 per cent duty on some
other products. Besides, the proposed bill has also restructured the existing supplementary duty
(SD) to 11 tiers, from the existing 12 tiers. The changed rates of SD are: 10 per cent, 20 per cent,
30 per cent, 45 per cent, 60 per cent, 100 per cent, 150 per cent, 200 per cent, 250 per cent, 350
per cent and 500 per cent.
There was no demand for such changes in tariff structure from any stakeholders. These changes
may require detailed evaluation of impact on manufacturing and trading in the local market.
Tax-free ceiling for individual taxpayers has been proposed to be raised to Tk 0.25 million
(2,50,000) from the upcoming the fiscal year (FY), 2015-16, following increased cost of living
and inflation and the amount of minimum tax for all individual taxpayers set at Tk 4,000
irrespective of place of residence. Currently, taxpayers in the city corporation areas pay Tk 3,000
as minimum tax. It is Tk 2,000 for taxpayers in the district towns and municipalities and Tk