The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will have to raise Tk 240 million every hour to meet its budgetary target in financial year 2016-17 (FY17), says its chairman Md Nojibur Rahman.
Speaking at a discussion in Dhaka's Institution of Diploma Engineers, he said the revenue target set in the forthcoming 2016-17 budget would be to the tune of Tk 170 billion a month or around Tk 5.6 billion a day.
He said revenue target for FY-16 budget was fixed at Tk1760 billion but its collection shortfall is around 10 per cent at which the finance minister was not happy at all.
Rahman said the government has taken initiatives to raise revenue income and Tk642. 63 billion or 36.5 per cent of the total budget was targeted to be collected from VAT income.
He said the new VAT act which is supposed to come into effect from July I, will help to increase revenue collection though, the business people are yet to accept the amendments in new act.
The NBR chairman said the forthcoming budget is a vast one which is likely to fulfill the government's 2021 and 2041 years' developmental goals.
"We need to be alert to ensure that no one face harassment (while paying taxes)," he said. Referring to businessmen, Rahman said, "They do not want to spend Tk 3 to pay a tax of Tk 1." "However, the extent of harassment will lessen substantially after the enforcement of the VAT law," he said.
Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Rashed Khan Menon, who attended the discussion, urged the NBR to be more service-oriented.