The finance minister has assured the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the finance ministry that no budgetary measure would be announced which would harm the stock market.
"We had a discussion and the finance minister assured me of not taking any step that goes against stock market," said A H M Mostafa Kamal, the standing committee chairman told a press briefing in parliament on Wednesday.
"The committee discussed the upcoming budget and put forward 51 recommendations to the ministry," he said.
STOCK MARKET
The chairman proposed that TIN should not be made mandatory to maintain BO account and there should not be any new tax on the stock market activities.
Tax on dividend income should be reduced to 10 percent from 20 percent at individual and corporate levels, while no tax should be imposed on maintaining BO account, he said.
"The government wants a 3-percent tax on premium income and we proposed to withdraw that," Kamal said.
The capacity and human resources of the Securities and Exchange Commission should be strengthened to make it a 'true regulatory' body.
About demutualisation, he said the SEC should sit with Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges to set the timeframe to get the job done, Kamal said.
"The stock market is passing through a critical time and it'll become normal again," he hoped adding, "When the new SEC will be functional, the investors will get back their confidence."
He said the committee proposed that there should be a system of 'special audit' in addition to the regular one to get more information about companies, Kamal said.
"We're going to hold a meeting on the stock market once the budget is placed in parliament next month."
INCOME TAX
Kamal said the committee recommended that corporate and individual income tax should be lower.
"There is a tax-evasion tendency among people as the tax rate is high," he said.
"We proposed that corporate tax for banks and financial institutions should be reduced to 40 percent from 42.5 percent and for the listed companies it should be from 27.5 percent to 22.5 percent," he said.
He, however, said corporate tax rate on non-listed companies should be unchanged at 37.5 percent to attract them to the share market.
The minimum ceiling for tax at individual level should be raised to Tk 0.2 million from the existing Tk 0.165 million considering the growing inflation, Kamal said.
"The maximum tax bracket of 25 percent at individual level should be gradually reduced to 20 percent and it should be 24 percent in the next budget."
"We had a discussion and the finance minister assured me of not taking any step that goes against stock market," said A H M Mostafa Kamal, the standing committee chairman told a press briefing in parliament on Wednesday.
"The committee discussed the upcoming budget and put forward 51 recommendations to the ministry," he said.
STOCK MARKET
The chairman proposed that TIN should not be made mandatory to maintain BO account and there should not be any new tax on the stock market activities.
Tax on dividend income should be reduced to 10 percent from 20 percent at individual and corporate levels, while no tax should be imposed on maintaining BO account, he said.
"The government wants a 3-percent tax on premium income and we proposed to withdraw that," Kamal said.
The capacity and human resources of the Securities and Exchange Commission should be strengthened to make it a 'true regulatory' body.
About demutualisation, he said the SEC should sit with Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges to set the timeframe to get the job done, Kamal said.
"The stock market is passing through a critical time and it'll become normal again," he hoped adding, "When the new SEC will be functional, the investors will get back their confidence."
He said the committee proposed that there should be a system of 'special audit' in addition to the regular one to get more information about companies, Kamal said.
"We're going to hold a meeting on the stock market once the budget is placed in parliament next month."
INCOME TAX
Kamal said the committee recommended that corporate and individual income tax should be lower.
"There is a tax-evasion tendency among people as the tax rate is high," he said.
"We proposed that corporate tax for banks and financial institutions should be reduced to 40 percent from 42.5 percent and for the listed companies it should be from 27.5 percent to 22.5 percent," he said.
He, however, said corporate tax rate on non-listed companies should be unchanged at 37.5 percent to attract them to the share market.
The minimum ceiling for tax at individual level should be raised to Tk 0.2 million from the existing Tk 0.165 million considering the growing inflation, Kamal said.
"The maximum tax bracket of 25 percent at individual level should be gradually reduced to 20 percent and it should be 24 percent in the next budget."