The employees of the National Board of Revenue and its affiliated tax, VAT, and customs departments will continue their pen-down strike today, demanding the repeal of the ordinance to dissolve the board and the implementation of sustainable reforms.
NBR Sangskar Oikya Parishad, the platform of the protesting officials, announced the fresh protest on Saturday afternoon, following the last day of their earlier three-day strike.
Today鈥檚 pen-down strike will continue for five hours from 10:00am to 03:00pm.
The protesters, however, said they would continue their duties related to air passengers, exports and the coming budget during the strike.
Earlier on May 12, the interim government promulgated an ordinance dissolving the revenue board and splitting it into two divisions under the finance ministry in a move to modernise tax administration and boost revenue collection.
The ordinance was approved by President Mohammed Sahabuddin and signed by law secretary Hafiz Ahmed Chowdhury.
The divisions to be created are 鈥楻evenue Policy Division鈥� and 鈥楻evenue Management Division鈥�, in keeping with the International Monetary Fund鈥檚 key condition of separating tax policy from tax administration.
NBR officials have opposed the decision since the council of advisers approved the draft ordinance in April to split the board.聽
On Saturday afternoon meanwhile, the BCS (Taxation) Association, a platform of the officers under the tax cadre, announced an indefinite suspension of its activities.
A statement, signed by its president, Barrister Mutasim Billah Faruqui, and general secretary, Syed Mahidul Hasan, explained that a comparative review was conducted regarding the recommendations of the NBR鈥檚 Reform Advisory Committee and the recently issued ordinance.
In light of this, the association believed that addressing the concerns arising among tax officials and employees was urgent.
The senior members of both subdivisions of the NBR were assigned the responsibility for coordination to ensure a proper resolution of the situation, the statement read.
Given these circumstances and following consultations with the association鈥檚 senior members and the members of NBR鈥檚 Income Tax subdivision, the extended meeting of the organisation鈥檚 executive committee was cancelled.
Concurrently, the association鈥檚 activities were suspended indefinitely.
In a statement issued also on Saturday,聽Transparency International Bangladesh expressed concern over the 鈥榟asty鈥� promulgation of the ordinance abolishing the NBR and creating two separate divisions for revenue policy and revenue management, warning that the move risked placing revenue management under the control of the executive branch.
