Proposed budget anti-people: Hasina

Returning from a month-long visit abroad yesterday, Hasina said she will talk to her party leaders and decide whether to join the budget session to debate the proposed budget.

She said the government has proposed a massive Tk 5,051 crore additional tax on the poor while their income remained static.

"How will they pay the additional taxes?" asked Hasina. She was talking to journalists at the Zia International Airport in the morning on her arrival. She went to Paris on May 15 to attend a conference of the Socialist Party. From there, she went to UK and US.

She said when the Awami League came to power in 1996, the inflation rate was 6.4 per cent and it came down to 1.5 per cent when the caretaker government took over in 2001.

She criticised the proposed duties and taxes on essentials like powdered milk, fish, fruits and matches and reduction of duties on luxury items like pearl and diamond.

She claimed that the AL government implemented 90 per cent of the ADP, but the alliance government failed to implement more than 70-75 per cent of ADP in the outgoing fiscal.

Hasina doubted whether the next fiscal's Tk 20,300 crore ADP could be implemented.