Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said that to reduce the revenue collection deficit, the government must close tax loopholes and ensure good governance.
He also said that the NBR also lacked efforts of collecting revenue and it is yet to complete setting up EFD, digitalisation, and expanding revenue nets outside of Dhaka and Chattogram.
鈥楾here is also lack of using technology and policy consistency,鈥� he added.
Bangladesh struggles every year to collect revenue, so the shortfall in revenue collection was not surprising.
鈥楤angladesh has one of the lowest tax GDP ratios in the world, even lower than countries like Nepal. Year after year, the ratio hovers around 8 per cent,鈥� he added.
Mustafizur Rahman stated that the proposed budget for FY26 was also a typical budget, with no clear indication of a breakthrough in revenue collection.
鈥榃e should set a national priority to move forward by aligning institutional capacity and inclusive reforms. We must fill the loopholes,鈥� he added.
He also said that the government must take institutional initiatives to prevent tax evasion and tax avoidance.
