I am very happy to learn that the government is going to give the responsibility of tax policy formulation to a body separate from NBR. In fact, due to my regular communication with NBR since 1998 pleading for correcting tax inversions existing between the import of finished products and raw materials of electronic items, this very aspect appeared very strongly to me and I have been arguing for the separation of tax policy formulating

body from :IBR for quite some time.

Even if t ie proposal comes from IMF, 11 link we should hail this decision. However. I would like to put forward some suggestions to the government before giving a fin; I shape to the proposed body.

• Tax polic es are of paramount importance to the economy and ove all development of the cou itry, and therefore this net r body should be headed I y a secretary, not by

a joint secretary as proposed by the government. NBR is headed by a secretary, so should this proposed organ of the government.

• The body should have in its membership not only government officials, but civil society experts in relevant fields, particularly from the public universities, lawyers and journalists with relevant expertise.and representatives from associations of different manufacturers, traders and

importers (not only the prominent business chambers). They can be grouped into branches and sub-branches depending on the sectors involved.

• This body should have its own archival library for data and information related to taxes, and which should be made open to the public. This should also contain relevant information from other countries.

• The body should have its own

research cell for carrying out sample surveys, and to gather and analyse information of interest, particularly on industry and other business in Bangladesh and abroad. The tax policy formulation should be made a technical exercise based on facts (of course with judicial decision making) rather than one based op personal perception and whims of its officers as was the trend before, and that often led to

policies serving individual interests. All the findings of the research cell should be made available in the library andon a web-site.

* All proposed tax policies should be made open to public discussion and modification at least one month before preparing the final version for presenting in the parliament.

• Many changes to the tax policies are usually brought about through SROs at other

times citing urgency of the matter. These sometimes open up opportunities for vested interests to override national interest. All such proposals should be made public through newspapers and web-site for public discussions at least one month before taking the decisions. After signing up the SROs the final versions should also be made public through the above means, not only through government gazette which often go unnoticed.

Transparency and civil society participation is very important in governance, which we are learning the hard way. Left to itself, secrecy and control will automatically creep in any conventionally formed government body, and, once in place, it becomes almost impossible to change.Therefore weshould bring in transparency and participation of civil society in this newly fanned body beforeopportunity seekers get the upper hand.

K. Siddrqquo-e-Rabbanl is Professor ol Physics. Dhaka University and Merrier. National SME Task-force.