More excise duty for the rich

The bank accounts with balance over Tk 5 crore may have to pay more excise duty from the next fiscal year.

The finance minister today proposed a 25 per cent increase in the excise duty on bank balance over Tk 5 crore at any time of the year.

From the 2022-23 fiscal year, the excise duty will be Tk 50,000, up from the previous Tk 40,000, on accounts with such balance.

There were 165,951 bank accounts with a balance of Tk 1 crore and Tk 5 crore in debit or credit at the end of last year, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

And there were 54,219 accounts with balance over Tk 5 crore last year.

Bank accounts are the biggest source of excise duty, which saw the second-highest growth in collection in the first 10 months of the fiscal year, according to data from the National Board of Revenue.

Between July last year and April this year, Tk 2,811.6 crore was collected as excise duty, up 23.6 percent year-on-year.

The NBR is hoping to collect Tk 3,685.7 crore in excise duty this fiscal year.