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The Bangladesh Ceramicware Producers' Association has proposed to reduce import duty on capital machinery to 1.0 per cent.

They also proposed to reduce duty of 10 types of raw materials to 3.0 per cent from 5.0 per cent and waive supplementary duty on production stage of locally produced tiles and sanitary wares.

The association proposed to increase supplementary duty to 60 per cent from 45 per cent on imported ceramic wares and regulatory duty (RD) to 25 per cent from 5.0 per cent. They also sought withdrawal of 15 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on production of ceramic tiles and sanitary wares.

The move comes at a time when the country’s entire budgetary system is being put under pressure from all quarters to make the it a more attractive investment destination, and to release more equity into the market.

For example, Bangladesh’s chartered accountants have urged the government to re-structure the existing tax rates and increase the tax-free ceiling for individual taxpayers to Tk 220,000 from Tk 180,000.

They made a proposal to the revenue board to fix tax rates at 10, 20, 25 and 30 per cent from the existing 10, 15, 20 and 25 per cent.

NBR chairman Dr Nasiruddin Ahmed chaired the meeting, also attended by the incumbent ICAB president Sayful Islam, former president Humayun Kabir and secretary NI Chowdhury.

The ICAB leaders said the government should reduce the rate of corporate tax and increase individual tax rates to raise direct tax collection.

They said the revenue board can collect more tax if they reduce corporate tax and increase individual tax rates.

The government should fix rates of corporate tax taking country's economic perspective into consideration, the ICAB leaders said in the pre-budget meeting.

The NBR chairman underscored the need for increasing direct tax collection as it is only 30 per cent of the total tax collection now.

If the incentives for ceramic makers can be put firmly in place, then there is no doubt that investment levels in sanitaryware and tableware particularly can be accelerated and raise the country’s profile as a true South Asian alternative.

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