Special opportunity to whiten black money

Paying only 15pc tax

Zarif Mahmud: The government is going to give a special opportunity to whiten black money in the next financial year 2024-25. Notwithstanding the existing laws of the country, no authority can raise any question if a taxpayer pays fixed tax rates for immovable properties like flats and land and 15 per cent tax on other assets including cash.
This information is known from sources in the Ministry of Finance. It is also known that in the next budget, an opportunity is being given to show undisclosed cash, bank deposits in the income tax return by paying 15 percent tax. Basically, this initiative is to bring black money into the mainstream of the economy. No other agency of the government can question this. Currently, the maximum tax rate for individual taxpayers is 25 percent, which the NBR plans to increase to 30 percent in the next financial year.
According to the Income Tax Act- any tax payer has the opportunity to turn black money into white by paying a maximum tax of 25% with a penalty of 10%. However, apart from this, there is an opportunity to launder money even by paying the tax determined based on the specific area in the case of buying a plot or flat. However, in these cases, any organization related to the government can ask questions about the source of the money later. Apart from this, there is an opportunity to invest unrealized income in economic zones or hi-tech parks with only 10 percent tax.
What experts say
Former Finance Secretary and former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury told that such opportunities have been given repeatedly before. But that opportunity did not get much response. On the contrary, regular tax payers are disheartened by this controversial initiative.
Research organization Policy Research Institute (PRI) executive director Ahsan H. Mansoor said, it is not right to give such an opportunity. Because common taxpayers have to pay tax at the rate of 25 to 30 percent. And if those who have evaded taxes or bring in stolen money, have to pay only 15 percent tax, then it will be an unfair decision on regular tax payers.
History of black money
A review of NBR data shows that since independence, black money investment has been provided in various ways. Between 1971-75 Tk 2.25 crore was laundered. From there, the government received only Tk 19 lakhs of income tax at that time. Between 1976-80, Tk 50.76 crores were laundered. In this, the government gets Tk 81 lakhs of tax. From 1981-90, Tk 45 crore were white, so that income tax was Tk 4.59 crore.
From 1991-96, Tk 150 crore was white and income tax was Tk 15 crore. After that the amount of black money becoming white gradually increased. In the three years from 1997-2000, Tk 950 crore was whitewashed and income tax was Tk 141 crore. In the next 7 years i.e. Tk 827 crore till 2001-07, Tk 1,682 crore till 2007-09, Tk 1,805 crore till 2009-13 and Tk 11,107 crore till 2013-20 entered the mainstream economy. From this, the government gets a revenue of Tk 102 crores, Tk 911 crores, Tk 230 crores and Tk 1730 crores respectively.