The Opposition Jatiya Party and Independent Members of Parliament have expressed their anger over the proposal to whiten black money or undeclared money by providing 15 percent tax in the budget. They said that ordinary honest tax payers would be offended and would not want to pay tax which will have an adverse effect on the country.
They said this during the general discussion of the 2024-25 budget session of the Jatiyo Sangsad(JS) on Sunday (June 23). The Speaker Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury presided over the session.
Jatiya Party Member of Parliament Masud Uddin Chowdhury said in the session that there is no new message of hope in the proposed budget. Instead regular tax payers have been discouraged by giving opportunities to whiten black money. And those who did not pay tax were encouraged.
He said, everyone pays 30-35 percent tax legally. And those who have not paid tax for a long time, that black money will be made white with 15 percent tax. So why do ordinary people pay regular taxes? It is unethical; as a result many people will take this opportunity without paying tax.
He said that this black money is of two types, it is earned illegally, it is not even shown for that. Another type of income is earning, they also did not pay tax. He strongly opposed the legalization of most of them black money, illegally earned money and demanded their punishment. He also spoke about the problems of common people due to inflation.
He said, remittance is a major driving force of our economy. About 1 crore people send thousands of crores money of remittances every year. Among them, there is a lot of writing about Malaysia; they send Tk. 4 thousand crores per month, Tk. 51 thousand crores annually. Many people think that there is a conspiracy about why so much money will come. There is also a syndicate with this. As a result they are also having problems sending remittances, creating instability there. Therefore, he demanded to facilitate remittance warriors and stop corruption, money laundering, bank robberies etc. in the banking sector.
AKM Mostafizur Rahman, another Member of Parliament of the Jatiya Party, said that the budget has kept the privileges of the upper classes. And the middle class will be under pressure. Various policies of the budget did not go in favor of the poor.
He said that the government's income will decrease as the price of cigarettes is not increased. It is the government's responsibility to ensure health care, but there is corruption everywhere, even though thousands of crores of rupees are allocated annually, people are not receiving medical care.
He said that the health system should be reformed to restore order in the health sector. Mega project loans are being taken, a large part of which is being taken up by outside contractor engineers. The young society in our country should be skilled in this regard.
Criticizing the decision taken to whiten black money, he said that as a result common taxpayers will not want to pay tax. So you have to move away from that expectation.
Independent Member of Parliament Abul Kalam Azad demanded that the money of the country has been diverted abroad, they should be identified and the money should be returned and they should be brought under punishment.
He criticized how the sovereign allows the parliament to launder black money. He demanded the identification and punishment of those involved in money laundering, corruption, and non-payment of loans from banks.
Another Independent Member of Parliament Sohrab Uddin said that the list of distressed banks has been prepared recently, and Bangladesh Bank has decided to merge these distressed banks with solvent banks. But because no effective measures were taken, these distressed banks suffered, with customers withdrawing all their money. He condemned the hot decision of Bangladesh Bank for this.
Sohrab Uddin said that the Finance Minister said to whiten the 15 percent tax to give an opportunity to show undisclosed money in the budget. That will not serve the purpose. No one will show this undisclosed amount with 15 percent tax, 10 percent in the past also did not get much response.
He said if it can be taxed at 5 percent then it will show the huge amount of undisclosed money in the country, the objective of the Finance Minister will be achieved. So I will request the Finance Minister to levy 5 percent tax to launder huge amount of money.
He said that development in the country is going at a fast pace, but the problem is corruption. Corruption has increased if it is not curbed then the speed of development will slow down. Today there is no place where there is no corruption. A lot of money is being lost in the bank, corruption has increased, the officials and the chairmen of the bank are immersed in corruption today. There was no trial for them.