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EYE ON BUDGET

Time to go for wealth tax

Sajjadur Rahman
A government employee had bought a 2.5-katha plot at Tk 80,000 in Mirpur in 1989. Now the land values at aroundTk 1 crore, or 125 times higher, in a span of 25 years.
Another man who is a banker had bought a 1,500-square-feet flat at Eskaton in the capital at Tk 25 lakh in 2000, the market price of which is around Tk 1 crore now.
In another case, a land investor had purchased several hundred decimals of lands beside the Dhaka-Maoa highway in 2000-2001. He had to spend Tk 5,000-Tk 10,000 per decimal depending on the locations. Now he has been selling out the lands at Tk 5 lakh to Tk 10 lakh per decimal. The hike in the prices is astronomical - 100 times higher than 14 years ago.
The returns are amazing compared to any other format of investments in any country. And the gain is tax-free as well, which is why people choose to invest heavily in properties in Bangladesh.
"This is a very land-scarce country. Investment in assets is very safe and the income is tax-free," said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of Policy Research Institute.
If the gains on properties were taxable, people would not go for investing heavily in lands and flats, he said.
Mansur, who is a former official of International Monetary Fund, said taxes on properties are prevalent in many countries. It is 15 percent in the United States where a house owner has to pay as low as $18,000 annually as holding tax,
which he said is very minimal in Bangladesh.
"Wealth tax will facilitate income distribution and reduce asset inequality and its concentration," he said.
Analysts said imposition of wealth tax could not only generate some income for the government but also reduce property prices and rising inequality.
The move will also discourage moneyed people to invest in unproductive areas such as lands and flats, they said.
Mustafa K Mujeri, director general of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said wealth tax should be introduced to rein in rising income and asset inequality, which has become a challenge for Bangladesh.
"Wealth tax targets unproductive, non-essential and idle assets," Mujeri said, adding that the government could offer incentives to bring back the already invested money in such assets to the productive sectors.
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