BANK ACCOUNTS Mannan hints at excise duty cut

State minister for finance MA Mannan on Tuesday said that there was scope for the government to reconsider its proposal for increased excise duty on bank accounts.
Mannan made the comments when lawmakers from treasury, opposition and independent benches on Tuesday kept on slamming finance minister AMA Muhith for the ninth day for proposing the hike in the proposed budget for 2017-18 financial year.
The lawmakers also urged finance minister to reconsider his proposal of implementing uniform value added tax rate at 15 per cent saying that it would cause price hike of essential commodities.
Muhith proposed to raise the excise duty from Tk 500 to Tk 800 on accounts with balance of over Tk 1 lakh and below Tk 10 lakh.
Excise duty on bank accounts where the balance — whether debit or credit exceeds Tk 1 lakh — was Tk 500 since 2009, Mannan said while taking part in budget discussion. 
‘There have been discussions on the excise duty in parliaments for several days. I hope that we’ll be able to reach an acceptable solution over the matter,’ he said.
Mannan, however, backed the government’s proposal for implementing uniform 15 per cent VAT rate by saying almost all daily necessaries were kept out of VAT net. ‘I want to ask why everybody is saying we are imposing VAT on necessary items,’ he asked.
Minutes before Mannan’s address, opposition chief whip Tajul Islam termed government’s list of VAT-free items was nothing but ‘a jugglery of words’.
Tajul said that uniform VAT rate at 15 per cent and increased excise duty would have grave effect on general consumers and small investors and call in more inflation.
Government’s target of income in this budget was set by imposing more indirect tax on middle and lower class people, he said.
Workers Party of Bangladesh lawmaker Mustafa Lutfullah said that the proposed budget would increase burden on middle and lower income people.
Proposed budget does not say anything about reducing gap between rich and poor people, he said, observing that it would rather increase the gap.
Finance minister unexpectedly increased the excise duty on bank accounts, said independent MP Tahjib Alam Siddique.
Primary and mass education minister Mostafizur Rahman, treasury bench member Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, Shamsul Haque Tuku and others part in the discussion hailing the budget. 

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net