1923 people whiten around Tk 923 crore in last fiscal; govt got over 121 crore taxes: NBR

By AKM Moinuddin
Dhaka, Jul 13 (UNB) - About Tk 923 crore black money have been whitened by investing in four categories, the lion share being in the stock market, during the outgoing fiscal year.
A total of 1,923 people declared investment of undisclosed Tk 922.98 in four categories - new industry, infrastructure development, BMRE (balancing, modernization, rehabilitation and expansion), stock market and purchase flat or land.
This was informed by NBR Member (Tax Admin and Monitoring) Basir Uddin Ahmed at a press conference today. The exchequer got about Tk121.21 crore in taxes for legalizing the black money.
Of the black money holders, highest 1320 people legalized their money by purchasing flat or plot, 296 invested in capital market, 162 invested in new industry and 145 invested in BMRE, he said.
The government kept open the scope to whiten the black money by paying 10 percent tax and invest the money in different sectors. In case of flat and land purchase, undisclosed money holders were given a chance to legalize their money by paying tax varying on the size of the flat and land.
The investment of black money in the stock market was around Tk 427 crore while approximately Tk 258 crore was legalized in BMRE. More than Tk 239 crore was invested in new industry and approximately Tk 29 crore whitened by purchasing flats and lands.
Most of the money was whitened in the last two months of the fiscal year and only 81 people took advantage of the opportunity and legalized Tk 57 crore from July to April of 2009-10.
In the current fiscal year, the scope to whiten black money is restricted to only one category - investment in Bangladesh Infrastructure Finance Fund (BIFF).
During the army backed caretaker government 56,845 people legalized Tk 9,773 crore by paying Tk 911 crore in taxes.
Since fiscal 1976-77, all successive governments provided the opportunity to whiten the black money.
During the fiscal year 2000-2001 when Awami League was in power only Tk 1,000 crore was whitened. Meanwhile, approximately Tk 2,000 crore was legalized under the money whitening opportunity for three fiscal years during BNP-led four-party alliance rule.