The country's textile mill owners have demanded immediate withdrawal of 2 percent advance income tax (AIT) imposed on cotton imports. They also warned that the industry would be closed if the demand was not complied with.
The leaders of the organization made the call at a press conference organized by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) at Gulshan Club in the capital on Saturday (July 7th).
BTMA Vice President Abdullah Al Mamun said, “If the government does not withdraw the tax by Monday, the plan taken to collect revenue will be the opposite.” The goods were closed to the port, no one was extinguished cotton. '
Although the government claims that the tax is coordinated, Mamun alleged that in reality there was no opportunity to get it back. “To pay this tax, we have to get a new bank loan,” he said. If this continues, the industrial sector will not survive. '
At present, the corporate tax in the textile sector is 25.7 percent, but due to the new AIT, the implementation tax will reach about 5 percent.
Mamun said, “The industrial sector is disrupted today under various pressure, including gas and electricity crisis, raw material price hike, raising workers' salaries, export incentive reduction. The imposition of new tax-VAT on him is making the industry weakening. When neighboring countries are offering various benefits to the textile sector, additional taxes are being imposed on our industry. Now about 5 percent of the factory owners are interested in selling their companies. '
“This is not an isolated decision, it seems that such a policy has been taken to destroy the textile sector of the country in a planned way,” said Saleuddin Zaman Khan, another Vice President of BTMA.
Shawkat Aziz Russell, president of the organization, said, “I have a textile match of my own, where I used to use yarn in the denim factory. But now there is a situation where I have to import yarn from abroad, especially from India. '
He emphasized, 'In this situation no textile mill in the country will survive. We request the government to immediately withdraw the decision to increase the advance income tax and other new tax-VAT imposed on cotton imports. '
In addition to the BTMA at the press conference, leaders of the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Bangladesh Teritwell and Linen Manufacturers Association were present and they made the same demand.
Textile owners complain that if such a policy continues, Bangladesh's export -based industrial sector will be at extreme risk and it will be difficult to protect the existence of domestic industry.
