The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) on Thursday requested the National Board of Revenue to help the VAT paying businesses with a 50% rebate on all port related charges to help them covering the loss occurred from political unrest.

A delegation team from DCCI, led by its president Hossain Khaled made the request at a meeting with the NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman at the conference room of tax authority’s headquarters at Shegunbagicha in Dhaka.

The delegation handed over a 28 point pre-budget proposal to NBR chairman at the meeting for considering them at the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2015-16.

Addressing the meeting, DCCI President Hossain Khaled urged the NBR chairman to provide tax rebate to the businessman as they could not run their businesses smoothly, especially in the last one month due to the political turmoil.

‘We are passing days with trouble in paying bank interests due to political unrest. In addition, we have failed to release containers, which are full of imported goods from Chittagong port due to ongoing blockades and hartals. We have to count extra charges for this matter,’ Khaled said urging the tax authority to allow 50% rebate on all port related charges for the VAT paying businesses.

The DCCI chief also stressed on to increase the tax net to boost the revenue collection.

The other proposals from the chamber include fixing the tax free limit for individual taxpayers at Tk2,75,000 from Tk2,20,000, preparation of separate policies and roadmap for the domestic automobile industry,  withdrawal of 15% VAT on use of internet, withdrawal of 3% source tax on agency commission of selling air tickets by the travel agents, and keeping the education sector out of the purview of VAT and tax.

In response, NBR chairman Md. Nojibur Rahman said that the proposals will be considered while preparation of the budget.

The NBR chair informed the delegation that that NBR and DCCI will jointly organize income tax fair in the upazila level to encourage people paying tax accordingly.

The DCCI delegation team includes its vice-president Md Shoaib Choudhury, directors AKD Khair Mohammad Khan, Abdus Salam, Asif A Chowdhury, Hossain Akthar, Khandakar Abdul Muktadir, K. Atique-E- Rabbani, Muktar Hossain Chowdhury, Nessar Maksud Khan, Osman Gani and Secretary General AHM Rezaul Kabir.