The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Supplementary duty of 60, 100, 250 and 350 per cent on vehicles having higher displacement capacity have been proposed in the budget to discourage import of luxurious vehicles.

To prevent imports of new vehicles in guise of reconditioned vehicles, the Finance Adviser proposed in his budget speech to amend the conditions of eligibility for reconditioned vehicles. These are: time gap between registration and deregistration has to be 365 days and the vehicles must run at least 1000km before shipment.

The budget proposes to impose specific duty on sugar, and raw materials for steel products used in the construction sector (meltable scrap and re-rollable scrap) 'in the backdrop of recent abnormal price escalation in the international market and to stabilize domestic market.'

It proposes to raise duty on import of printed papers from 15 per cent to 25 per cent as the

Finance Adviser said, 'There has been some phenomenal growth in the country's printings sector, and lower duty on printed papers has made our publishers and printers face uneven competition.'

The Finance Adviser proposed to raise customs duty from the existing 10 per cent to 25 per cent on pictorial and drawing books used for educational purpose for young children as 'the contents of these books, in most of the cases, are not in conformity with our own values and culture.'

In the interest of public health, the Finance Adviser proposed to impose 60 per cent of supplementary duty on the raw materials for manufacturing cigarettes and 20 per cent on the papers used in producing packaging materials of cigarettes.

In the interest of protecting some industries producing import substitutes, the Finance Adviser proposed to enhance the customs duty on imports of certain products. With similar objectives, he also proposed to impose and increase supplementary duties on certain items.

The viewing of satellite TV channels will be costlier as the government proposes to enhance the existing rate of

supplementary duty from 15 percent to 35 percent for the satellite channel distributors.

The Finance Adviser in his budget speech said the local satellite TV channels are subject to payment of 15 percent VAT on the commercials telecast on their channels whereas the foreign TV channels pay no VAT on commercials that are telecast in Bangladesh.

"Although these commercials are not directly targeted towards our local consumers, but they indirectly help creating import demands for commodities shown on these commercials."

Moreover, he said, different programs including foreign movies are freely being shown on various local and foreign TV channels through satellite.

The proprietors or distributors of foreign TV channels are not paying the VAT applicable on commercials that are telecast on their channels depriving the government from its fair share of revenue.

In view of the situation, the Finance Minister proposed to enhance the existing rate of supplementary duty from 15 percent to 35 percent for the satellite channel distributors.

Down

Reduction of supplementary duty from 60 per cent to 20 per cent is proposed on importation of ordinary non-luxurious microbuses, within the displacement capacity from 1500cc to 1800cc used for transportation of passengers and industrial raw materials.

Finace Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam proposed in his budget speech to withdraw 15 per cent VAT on importation of mild steel (MS) bar and rod.

He proposed to reduce duty on import of printing papers to 12 per cent from 25 per cent.

The Finance Adviser proposed to withdraw 20 per cent of supplementary duty on import of dates taking into account the religious sentiment of people as 'dates are primarily consumed by the devout Muslims during iftar and are imported during the month of Ramadan.'

He proposed deduction of taxes at source, at the rate of 3 percent, by the bill paying companies and statutory bodies against the bills payable for advertisements published in newspapers or periodicals or telecast on private TV channels.

To ensure proper business record keeping, the Finance Adviser proposed to abolish the existing 15 percent VAT, 3 percent AIT and 1.5 percent ATV on import of electronic cash registers (ECRs). No duties and taxes shall also apply on import of ECRs.

Reduction of customs duty from 25 per cent to 7 per cent have been proposed on import of inhaler actuator used as medicaments. Besides, total abolishment of supplementary duty on inhaler actuator proposed.

Besides, the Finance Adviser propose to reduce customs duty on equipment used in agriculture like irrigation pumps, diesel engine and tractors to 3 per cent from various existing rates.

Since children are prone to deadly thalassemia disease, treatment of this disease is expensive and its medicines are not produced in the country. Recently, customs duty and VAT on imports of drugs used for treatment of this fatal disease have been withdrawn. The Finance Adviser proposed to maintain the existing duty free benefit for the importation of life saving drugs.

To provide impetus to the local industries, the Finance Adviser proposed to reduce customs and supplementary duties on certain raw materials and intermediate goods.

Non-resident Bangladeshi foreign exchange earners bring with them some ordinary electronic appliances when they come back home. But as these items are subject to duties and taxes, they face difficulties in clearing those items at the airports. In order to mitigate these difficulties, the Finance Adviser proposed duty free clearance of such items by amending the existing baggage rules.