City building owners will be under tax net

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said all the building owners in the capital will be brought under tax net.

Tax teams along with students would collect information about the buildings and “signs of wealth visible in the city” and later tax notices would be sent to the building owners, he added.

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The minister was briefing reporters after holding a pre-budget discussion with the chairmen of the parliamentary standing committees at the State Guest House Padma yesterday.

“Forget about other cases, just think of Dhaka. I will divide Dhaka in some zones and my income tax teams will visit every zone. I might hire students to be with them [taxmen]. They will make a list of all the buildings. I will issue tax notices to all the building owners,” Muhith said.

He also hinted at hiking taxes on tobacco to discourage its consumption.

Tobacco was least taxed in Bangladesh compared to other countries in the world, the minister told reporters. “My programme will be to oust bidi from the country within two years.”

Asked whether the tobacco tax would be increased in the next national budget, he replied in the affirmative.

He said there should be at least one crore taxpayers in a country of 16 crore people. “I don't know when we would reach the target. The number of our taxpayers has reached 28 lakh from 14 lakh, which is good. I think 1 crore should be the target for 2019.”

He expressed concern over the rampant use of polythene bags. A proposal might be made to impose 1 percent eco-tax, he said.

The minister said the government allocated only Tk 1 lakh for the Halda river during the spawning season. The amount would be hiked to Tk 5 lakh from the next fiscal year.