Govt abruptly dissolves NBR reform committee

The interim government has "abruptly" dissolved a five-member advisory committee formed to initiate reforms for the National Board of Revenue (NBR), even though a comprehensive report on the committee's recommendations is pending.

On Sunday, the finance ministry issued a notification in this regard.

"The NBR Advisory Committee, formed on October 9 last year, has been dissolved following the promulgation of the Revenue Policy and Management Ordinance 2025, which separates revenue policy from management," it said.

The committee members expressed surprise at the move, saying their work was not yet complete. They claimed they were still preparing a comprehensive report to submit to the government.

"We don't know why the government has taken this step so suddenly. We are still working to fulfil our six-point terms of reference," said Muhammad Abdul Mazid, one of the committee members.

Mazid said they had completed only one-fifth of their assigned responsibilities.

"We have just submitted a single report on the separation. For the NBR reform, this is not enough. We are still conducting consultation meetings with various stakeholders," he said.

The committee's six-point mandate included advising on fiscal and revenue reforms, assessing the NBR's capacity, recommending modernisation, guiding institutional integrity and governance, supporting citizen engagement, and offering other revenue-related policy advice.

The committee, formed on October 9 last year, included two former NBR chairmen—Muhammad Abdul Mazid and Nasiruddin Ahmed.

The other members were Delwar Hossain, Aminur Rahman, and Farid Uddin, all former members of the taxes and customs divisions.

"Our mandate extended beyond the NBR separation to strengthening reforms, boosting revenue collection, enhancing stakeholder engagement, and modernising the revenue system," said Mazid.

"We will submit our report to the government in the coming months and also make it public for the people," he said.

The government move came a day after Farid Uddin, one of the committee members, remarked that if the separation of the NBR were to happen "out of spite," it would create a "disastrous" situation for the nation.

In a roundtable meeting in Dhaka, he also expressed concerns that the committee's recommendations for remoulding the NBR into two entities—Revenue Policy and Revenue Management—were not adequately reflected in the ordinance.

Another committee member, Aminur Rahman, told The Daily Star, "We just shared a preliminary report with the government. We were supposed to submit a comprehensive report following consultations with the stakeholders. Amid this situation, we got the notice."

Seeking anonymity, a committee member apprehended that Farid Uddin's comments could have prompted the finance ministry to dissolve the committee as a punitive measure.

The member warned that such rash steps could raise doubts over whether genuine reforms would be brought about for the NBR.

NBR Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts.

Unlike the other government reform committees set up through Cabinet Division directives, this committee was formed through an order of the Internal Resources Division under the finance ministry.

The government has also not yet made public the committee's recommendations on the NBR's split.