All we see is needless delay

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI) has, rather belatedly, raised objections about the proposed VAT law. It would have helped us all if the apex trade body would have thoroughly explained its objection instead of giving vague reasons such as the rise in inflation and social unrest.

The revised VAT law with its four-layer slab comes at the insistence of the business community who wanted a change of the flat rate of 15 percent. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) accepted this idea and invested a huge amount to ready itself technologically to collect VAT under the new law.

We agree with the FBCCI's argument that given the four-layer structure of VAT, the scope for rebate should be more specifically spelled out.

The crux of the issue is the use of a specific piece of software which businesses will have to use, which will greatly increase the capacity of NBR to streamline tax collection.

This VAT law was first made in 2012 with the proposal to implement it by 2015. After several delays, we should now be able to implement it. We also cannot understand why FBCCI had to wait till May 5, 2019 to raise its objection without working it out with the NBR. We do not want to see further delay in implementation of the new VAT law.