Revenue collection grew by nearly 21 percent year-on-year in the first two months of the current fiscal year, due mainly to a calmer political climate compared with the same period last year, when mass protests led to the fall of the Awami League government.

Why is this issue being dragged on for so long?

NBR is facing paralysis over the recent bifurcation ordinance.

The government has set an ambitious revenue growth target in this fiscal year’s revised budget given that three major multilateral development partners are stressing ramping up domestic resource mobilisation.

Revenue collection in the first four months of the current fiscal year declined by 1 percent year-on-year

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has fallen short of its revenue collection target for the 12th consecutive year, with experts opining that the existing framework for tax collection is inadequate.

Bangladesh’s revenue collection is lower than its potential, hovering below the level of Nepal and India, which have similar economic development, according to the finance ministry.

In Bangladesh, the tax-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio is not growing. Rather, the ratio is declining. Today, the country has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world.

The pace of revenue collections quickened in January, driven by increased receipts from income tax as the deadline for filing personal income and wealth statements for the current fiscal year ended last month.

The revenue collection will be very challenging if the political unrest is sustained in the coming months of this year, National Board of Revenue (NBR) Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem said today.

Revenue collection in Bangladesh grew 14.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the current fiscal year although the pace was slower owing to a decline in imports, official figures showed yesterday.

The government’s dependence on borrowing to finance national budgets has increased over the past decade as revenue collection has failed to keep pace with the ballooning public expenditure.

Tax collection by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) shot up in May, powered by buoyancy in value added tax (VAT) collection from domestic economic activities and increased income tax receipts, according to a provisional estimate. 

Self-contradictory is what best describes Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal’s fifth budget, and the last of the Awami League-led government’s current term.

While the government is distracted by elections, the financial economy will suffer

Newly disclosed CAG report says it dodged payment of over Tk 2,200 crore to the exchequer

Bangladesh needs proper macroeconomic management to avoid middle income trap

Bank accounts with upwards of Tk 1 crore in balance are set to face a higher excise duty next fiscal year as the government looks to collect more taxes from the relatively well-off to get close to the lofty revenue collection target.

Wishy-washy -- is what best describes the government’s stance on scaling up its narrow revenue base, which is posing to become the Achilles’ heel to Bangladesh’s growth aspirations.

It is hardly surprising that a premier think tank in the country has once again calculated that the government in all probability will miss its tax collection target.