Pre-budget meetNewspaper owners seek waiver of newsprint import duty

Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) on Wednesday proposed that the government waive import duty on newsprint as it is the basic raw material of the industry.

Currently, tax incidence on import of newsprint is 30 percent, including 5.0 percent customs duty, 15 percent VAT, 5.0 percent Advance Income Tax (AIT), said NOAB president AK Azad, while placing their budget proposals to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for Fiscal year 2021-22.

The leaders of NOAB and the Association of Television Channel Owners (ATCO) placed their proposals to the revenue authority in a pre-budget virtual meeting chaired by NBR chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem.

Mr Azad said the locally produced newsprint was yet to meet the quality standard of the newspaper industry.

"Many of the industries are enjoying tax waiver on their basic raw materials and newspaper as an industry deserves the similar treatment," said Mr Azad, publisher of Bangla daily Samakal.

He also proposed that the NBR cut corporate tax rate on newspapers - currently 32.5 percent - as many of such service-oriented industries are enjoying 12 to 15 percent corporate tax rates.

Editor and publisher of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam said the newspaper industry was hit hard by the coronavirus as there was misconception that the pathogen spread through papers.

The newspaper industry deserves the same treatment like other service oriented industries as it is providing higher public services than that of other industries, he said.

Mozammel Haque Babu, senior vice president of ATCO, said 75 percent of the advertisements were being smuggled to other countries depriving the government of its due VAT and taxes.

He alleged that multinational companies, operating in Bangladesh, were illegally diverting their advertisements to other countries.

These companies are showing that the money is being spent in Bangladesh for advertisement purpose but shifting the advertisements to other international channels as those channels are being broadcast in Bangladesh too, he explained.

Mr Babu said the government could earn additional Tk 20 billion as VAT by bringing the cable television distribution system under digital platform.

The NBR can propose to the other relevant ministries to make registration of cable operators mandatory, he said.

The NBR chairman appreciated the proposal and assured that he would inform the ICT or the Ministry of Information and Broadcast in this regard.

On duty waiver for importing newsprint, he said the NBR had to consider protection of domestic industry rather than tax collection.

He said local paper mills were capable of producing various qualities of papers including for local currency taka.

"We will explore why they could not meet demand of the newspaper industries," he added.