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No more money whitening scope

Muhith pledges to scrap provision in next budget

Staff Correspondent
The government is going to scrap the provision for whitening undisclosed money, commonly known as black money, from the upcoming fiscal year, said Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Once implemented in the 2014-2015 FY budget, this will put an end to a practice that earns very' little for the exchequer.
"There will be no provision for whitening black money. We almost abolished it last year. This time, it will go away completely," he said at the 35 th consultation meeting of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) ata city hotel yesterday.
The provision was aimed at bringing thousands of crores of undisclosed money into the mainstream economy and checking rampant money laundering.
However, the concession did not yield the desired results. Between fiscal 1971-72 and fiscal 2012-13, around Tk 13,808 crore was whitened, with the NBR receiving taxes of Tk 1,455 crore during the period, which is just around 1 percent of this year's collection target.
Between 2002 and 2011, $16 billion of illicit capital left the country, according to a December 2013 study by Global Financial Integrity, a US-based nonprofit organisation focused on curtailing cross-border flow of illegal money.
The current budget has allowed legalising black money in the real estate sector.
Shahjahan Khan, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, welcomed the government move to eliminate the scopes for money whitening.
The meeting, co-organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), offered the businesses and chambers a last-minute chance to suggest changes to the tax, VAT and duties structures before the budget announcement in June.
Muhith said the government is planning to fix the ceiling of non-taxable income for a longer period, instead of year-to-year basis. "I have recommended to the prime minister that we fix a ceiling which will not be changed at least for the next 10 years."
In the current fiscal year, the tax-free income threshold stands at Tk 2.20 lakh.
Muhith also said the VAT Act- 2012 would come into full force from July next year.
The year 2015 is also going to see restructuring of the customs law, he said. "A new law will be enacted as at least 25 percent of the existing regulations have to be changed."
"The businesses and industries will have to be ready for the changes, as the changes will be fundamental," he added.
Muhith also hinted about raising taxes on cigarettes and reorganising the tax structure for imported cars.
The government would continue supporting local industries through the budget and beyond the budget, but the beneficiaries would have to use the facilities properly as well to benefit the country, he added.