Simply a means of harassment

By Md. Jabed Amin (Juwel), Nikunja-2, Khilkhet, Dhaka-1229
22 September 2004, 18:00 PM
In the developed countries, taxpayers are honoured and the highest taxpayers are rewarded. But see a different picture in our country. So, it is time to put to paper the different picture. Last Friday, a representative of the income tax authority from circle-5 under tax zone-3, came to our house. But we are under circle23 of that zone, as per the jurisdiction assigned by the NBR. I told him so. Listening me, he was offended and asked about our last assessment and whether my father, who is the taxpayer, has been assessed. So far as I know , our legal representative, an ITP, files our return the very month after the financial year. So, "yes", I replied. "Have you any document?" he again asked. I added, "No, you can communicate with our legal representative for any query." Nevertheless, the person asked me a lot of unnecessary questions, e.g., whether we have explained the investment in the house, what was the source of earning against the investment, etc. I answered all his queries as we have been paying tax since 1998. "Everything is OK, you tell, but how come a file of yours is listed with my circle" he also asked. "You, however, have to close the file, otherwise you run into danger and to close it, you can communicate with me with a large amount of money at the given address" he grinned at me. After a long while, I made out what he actually wanted of me. My question: why do the tax officials harass us? How dare they demand bribe? When do we get rid of such kind of harassment?

I earnestly request the proper authority to take necessary steps in order to get rid of such harassment.