It is good to see that the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has taken an initiative to introduce a new mobile application and software, aiming to check the cases of tax evasion while increasing the number of tax-payers.
There is little doubt that, for the longest time, Bangladesh has had a problem with its tax base; many citizens continue to refuse to pay taxes outright, or use loopholes to pay a lesser amount and therefore, the NBR must be commended for finding a solution to address this most persistent of issues in the country.
Through this new app and software, the revenue-collecting authority believe that there will be an added layer of transparency and accountability; all the existing 649 tax circles will be linked to the mobile app, and customers can check on businesses to ensure that they are tax-paying enterprises.
This, overall, should bring dynamism into the revenue administration and help bring a large number of eligible tax-payers under the tax net.
There is plenty of justifiable public uncertainty and scepticism surrounding taxes, and a lot of it has to do with the unchecked levels of corruption and bureaucracy that plague our government administrative offices.
Therefore, while it remains imperative for the administration to root out these problem elements and restore some faith in tax collection, the introduction of more IT-based solutions such as this new app into the process looks to be an encouraging first step, which should encourage more accountability in the overall tax-collection system in the country.
