The Committee on National Tax Structure Reform has submitted a report to Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, containing specific recommendations for short and long-term actions.
The purpose is to recommend necessary restructuring of the tax framework to raise the country’s tax-GDP ratio to the desired level and to formulate tax policies supportive of the country’s overall economic development and internal and external trade.
On Tuesday, the 11-member national task force, led by Chairman of the Policy Research Institute (PRI) Bangladesh Zaidi Sattar, handed over the report to the chief adviser at state guesthouse Jamuna.
Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division Md Shahriar Kader Siddiqky, Secretary of the Finance Division Md Khairuzzaman Majumder, Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division Nazma Mobarak, and Secretary of the Internal Resources Division Md Abdur Rahman Khan were also present.
During the submission of the report, committee chairman Zaidi Sattar was accompanied by other committee members, Sultan Hafiz Rahman, professional fellow, BRAC Institute of Governance and Development; Syed Moinul Ahsan, professor emeritus, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada; Mohammad Zahid Hossain, chairman, Bangladesh Krishi Bank; Khurshid Alam, executive director, Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh; Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, FCMA, president, Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB), among others.
For Bangladesh’s economic progress as a developing country to be faster and sustainable, increasing the government’s own revenue is essential. In this regard, the tax system is the most important element. However, Bangladesh’s current tax structure is plagued by various limitations.
In this context, to raise the desired amount of revenue and increase the tax-GDP ratio to an acceptable level, an 11-member national task force was formed on 6 October 2025, under the leadership of Zaidi Sattar.
The task force was given a deadline to submit its report by 31 January 2026, to recommend necessary restructuring of the tax framework to raise the tax-GDP ratio to the desired level and to prepare specific recommendations for short and long-term actions.
The report describes Bangladesh’s tax system as unnecessarily complex, inefficient, and overly reliant on indirect taxes.
It states that to ensure long-term economic prosperity, fundamental and structural reform of the tax system is needed, rather than minor reforms or piecemeal changes. The report titled “Tax Policy for Development: A Reform Agenda for Restructuring the Tax System” identified a total of 55 policy issues and provided recommendations for them.
The report mentions 7 priority policy issues. A roadmap has been provided to increase the tax-GDP ratio from 10 percent to 12 percent by 2030 and from 15 percent to 20 percent by 2035. At the same time, a proposal has been made to change the ratio of direct and indirect taxes from the current 30:70 to 50:50 through structural restructuring.
Additionally, recommendations have been made for digitisation, automation, AI-based risk analysis, a simplified tax structure, restructuring incentives, risk-based audits, and a strategic shift from trade taxes towards domestic taxes.
Regarding modernising the customs structure, the report advises equalising effective protection for alternative products for exports and imports.
The report suggests applying post-clearance audits instead of port audits, noting that a separate valuation database is not needed for goods clearance.
A recommendation has also been made to move towards a single rate in the Value Added Tax (VAT) system instead of multiple rates.
After receiving the report, the chief adviser thanked the committee members and said, “The interim government has very little time. We want to start the journey towards implementing these policies.”
He further said, “If these policies are implemented, the sectors and methods of revenue collection will become clearer, and it will bring about a major policy change in the country’s economic development and revenue management.”
The finance adviser said, “This report will serve as a guideline for us. As a result, it will be possible to increase revenue collection while ensuring good governance in this sector.”
The committee head, Zaidi Sattar, said, “Over the past decade, our revenue collection methods have become extremely complex. Without reforming these methods, it is difficult to expand the scope of revenue collection.”
He said, “If these methods can be reformed quickly, it will have far-reaching positive impacts on the economy.”
Internal Resources Division Secretary Md Abdur Rahman Khan said, “This report has clearly identified the crises and provided guidance on how they can be resolved them.”
