NBR chairman for rational approach in revenue collection

A rational approach will be maintained in mobilization of revenue as the prime aim of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) is to boost revenue collection by keeping friendly relations with business community, said newly appointed NBR chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan.

"We must maintain a cordial relation with businesspeople. We must not have an attitude that we want to realize something from them forcibly . . . they would never be our rivals. We will realize the exact share of the government," he said while exchanging views with senior NBR officials after joining the office in the city yesterday.

The government on Wednesday appointed Bhuiyan as senior secretary of Internal Resources Division (IRD) and chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for a two-year contract.  He said the NBR will be business-friendly and if businesses are run smoothly in the country revenue earnings will go up normally. The NBR must intensify its efforts to bring more people under the tax net, he added.

The new chairman asked the officials to find out rich people who are not paying tax.  "We hear names of big businesspeople and know about their influence-assets but they are not in frontline in payment of tax. We must talk to them because we want to collect tax from them by giving them proper honor," Bhuiyan added.

Referring to one of his business friends in Bogra who got 'Kar Bahadur' award, he said there are businesspeople at district levels who are more wealthy than the people who received 'Kar Bahadur' award there but the names of those big business people are not included in the list of taxpayers.

He emphasized on maintaining honesty and said, "If we, the revenue officials, remain honest, the country will be benefited . . . corruption must not be allowed."