rkets and shops, realisation of amusement tax and collection of revenue from advertisement and beautification. There are allegations of dodging taxes to the tune of taka hundreds of crores. A section of dishonest officers are reportedly embezzling huge money by helping evasion of holding taxes showing the measurement of big hospitals, educational institutions, shopping malls and multistoried commercial buildings of a size smaller than the actual ones. In some cases, tax dodging is done by showing commercial buildings as residential ones. When cases are filed over holding tax, the syndicate at the office of divisional commissioner fixes the tax at a throwaway rate through negotiations. The sources further stated that the lion’s share of the earnings of the Dhaka South and the Dhaka North City Corporations come from the revenue division. But in every sphere of revenue collection, the people concerned are allegedly engaged in reckless irregularities and corruption. Many have become millionaires by virtue of getting posting in this lucrative division of the corporation. An official, who was PA to Mirza Abbas, while he was the mayor, has now become the deputy chief revenue officer of the DCC. It is alleged that sitting in the Nagar Bhaban this man has created a strong syndicate coordinating the five regions. The same situation is prevailing in the North City Corporation also. The officials and the employees are allegedly crippling the corporations by misappropriating hundreds of crores of taka through corruption. As a result, the city corporations which were self-reliant in the past are now in a great difficulty to pay the salaries and the allowances of the employees. Even the money of the officials’ welfare fund has been spent. After these serious irregularities were found, the authorities saved the main offenders and only suspended some field-level employees. It is learnt that there are 10 lakh holdings under the two city corporations, but the records show 1.43 lakh holdings in the Dhaka South City Corporation while 1.60 lakh in the Dhaka North City Corporation. From these holdings, taxes are collected at the rate fixed 20 years ago. The tax rate was fixed jointly by the regional executive officer, the engineer and the tax officer. Although they were supposed to fix the tax rate after an on-the-spot survey, in reality they did not do so. In other words, basically from the very outset, the officials of the revenue division cleverly kept open a scope for corruption.
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Graft dries up eight sources of revenue:Daily Sun
rkets and shops, realisation of amusement tax and collection of revenue from advertisement and beautification. There are allegations of dodging taxes to the tune of taka hundreds of crores. A section of dishonest officers are reportedly embezzling huge money by helping evasion of holding taxes showing the measurement of big hospitals, educational institutions, shopping malls and multistoried commercial buildings of a size smaller than the actual ones. In some cases, tax dodging is done by showing commercial buildings as residential ones. When cases are filed over holding tax, the syndicate at the office of divisional commissioner fixes the tax at a throwaway rate through negotiations. The sources further stated that the lion’s share of the earnings of the Dhaka South and the Dhaka North City Corporations come from the revenue division. But in every sphere of revenue collection, the people concerned are allegedly engaged in reckless irregularities and corruption. Many have become millionaires by virtue of getting posting in this lucrative division of the corporation. An official, who was PA to Mirza Abbas, while he was the mayor, has now become the deputy chief revenue officer of the DCC. It is alleged that sitting in the Nagar Bhaban this man has created a strong syndicate coordinating the five regions. The same situation is prevailing in the North City Corporation also. The officials and the employees are allegedly crippling the corporations by misappropriating hundreds of crores of taka through corruption. As a result, the city corporations which were self-reliant in the past are now in a great difficulty to pay the salaries and the allowances of the employees. Even the money of the officials’ welfare fund has been spent. After these serious irregularities were found, the authorities saved the main offenders and only suspended some field-level employees. It is learnt that there are 10 lakh holdings under the two city corporations, but the records show 1.43 lakh holdings in the Dhaka South City Corporation while 1.60 lakh in the Dhaka North City Corporation. From these holdings, taxes are collected at the rate fixed 20 years ago. The tax rate was fixed jointly by the regional executive officer, the engineer and the tax officer. Although they were supposed to fix the tax rate after an on-the-spot survey, in reality they did not do so. In other words, basically from the very outset, the officials of the revenue division cleverly kept open a scope for corruption.
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