Sohel Parvez

“So unfair!” is what middle-class taxpayers were left mouthing upon seeing the budget for the fiscal year 2019-20.

Shifting from its initial plan to slap a uniform rate, the government has finally proposed four rates of Value Added Tax to please businesspeople and take them on board to implement the new VAT law from the next fiscal year.

Tax and fiscal policies framed and applied by the government are not progressive enough to reduce inequality in the society, said analysts.

The government is likely to extend the tax exemption benefit on income from investment in infrastructure and industries in lagging regions for five years to encourage private investment and job creation.

The government may relax the baggage rules from next fiscal year to facilitate travellers to bring in gold bars and jewellery through the formal channel as it looks to curb smuggling.

The government is likely to whittle down value-added tax rates to five from existing seven as it is getting ready to implement the new VAT law from the next fiscal year, seven years after its enactment.

Providing price support for farmers has always been a top policy goal of almost every government. In practice, however, successive governments procured very little paddy from growers in the last three decades.

Clothing retailers had a good run this Eid-ul-Fitr thanks to soaring demand from urbanites in keeping with their improved purchasing

Gold traders and jewellers will be able to legalise their undeclared stock of gold and other precious metals by paying a low tax, reads a National Board of Revenue (NBR) notification on Tuesday.

Bangladesh is progressively becoming an important market for the US’s tree nuts, mainly almond, thanks to the country’s rising income and expanding food and beverage industry, said a report by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). “Consumers’ attitude towards nut consumption

Rice prices have fallen to a nearly three-year low impacted by downturn in paddy prices at the farmers’ level in the wake of good harvest as well as higher private and public stocks of the grain.

Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims, sees a spike in demand for many commodities.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi once said that growth that is not inclusive is not meaningful but just economic figures. And this proclamation seems to be gradually becoming relevant for Bangladesh.

The state-run jute mills appear to be a bottomless pit. Over the past decade, the government handed them Tk 7,477 crore to bail them out of their financial woes, and yet their supervising authority, Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation, has put its hand out for more.

The NBR and the FBCCI are at loggerheads over the new VAT law, reminiscent of past pushbacks from the business community that have delayed its implementation by four years already.

The National Board of Revenue has granted VAT exemption to the imports of raw materials of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API)

Bangladesh’s jute industry is in deep trouble. Exports of traditional jute goods have been falling in the face of competition from low-priced polypropylene and synthetic goods as well as a shrinking demand in the traditional markets abroad.

Farmers have started harvesting the biggest paddy crop, boro, in various parts of the country but the declining prices of the staple have stoked concerns of losses.

Revenue collection growth slowed to 7 percent in the July-February period of the current fiscal year -- the lowest in five years --

Taxmen netted 19 percent higher wealth surcharge in fiscal 2017-18 thanks to increased compliance, according to provisional data of