On the other hand, Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Shoaib Ahmed, who attended a meeting with the businessmen on Wednesday, urged them to contribute their best towards economic development by paying taxes.

Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) arranged the session at its conference room to discuss problems in VAT collection, payment process and find possible solutions to encourage tax payment.

Outgoing President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Yussuf Abdullah Harun and NBR member (VAT) AK Rezaul Karim also attended the meeting.

CCCI President Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury, Bangladesh Dokan Malik Samity President Amir Hossain Khan, former CCCI president Ali Ahmed, BGMEA First Vice-president SM Nurul Haque and CCCI Senior Vice-president Ershadullah participated in the discussion.

Shoaib Ahmed said there were complaints against tax officials but despite the fact, he said the businessmen were evading revenue taxes amounting to hundreds of crores of taka annually. Such evasion is leaving a negative impact on the economy.

It is astonishing that a section of the rich people living in posh metropolitan areas pay only Tk 5,000 each annually in tax although their yearly expenditure exclusively for families is more than Taka two crore," he said.

"Now, you ask your good conscience how much you are paying for the country," the NBR chairman posed the question.

He said the government brought many significant reforms to make the tax department efficient with an easy tax assessment and realization process for the convenience of taxpayers to increase the present revenue income.

The NBR chairman said the government's reform measures as well as the participatory and voluntary tax payment system had enhanced revenue collection by around Tk 6,000 crore over the last two years.

"It is a very unique system to accelerate revenue collection against the backdrop of continuous shrinkage in the foreign aid flow to enhance dependence on domestic resources," the chairman said.

Member (VAT) of the NBR AK Rezaul Karim urged the businessmen to pay VAT properly by taking the advantage of the current participatory VAT payment system.

FBCCI President Yussuf Abdullah Harun asked the businessmen to pay VAT through the self assessment system but he put emphasis on a corruption free and easy revenue collection process to encourage the business people to pay all types of taxes.

CCCI President Amir Humayun Mahmud Chowdhury said at least 50,000 additional shop owners would come under the VAT net in Chittagong, if a flat rate of Taka 3000 is fixed as VAT annually in the metropolitan cities and the district towns except Dhaka.