TAXATION

Introduction
In Bangladesh, the principal direct taxes are personal income taxes and
corporate income taxes, and a value-added tax (VAT) of 15% is levied on all
important consumer goods. The top income tax rate for individuals is 30%. For
the 2019/20 tax year (July 1 2019–June 30 2020) the top corporate rate was
45%. However, publicly traded companies registered in Bangladesh are
charged a lower rate of 30%. Banks, financial institutions, and insurance
companies are charged the 45% rate. All other companies are taxed at the 35-
37.5% rate. Effective 1 July 2020, certain agricultural equipment and electricity
supplied to the agricultural sector were exempted from VAT altogether. VAT on
the transfer of land is also to be abolished. Essential agricultural implements
and irrigation pumps had previously been excluded from certain taxes
9.2 Tax (definition)
To tax is to impose a financial charge or another levy upon a taxpayer (an
individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such
that failure to pay is punishable by law.
Simply we say Tax is a compulsory levy imposed by Government under
specific Acts on persons or goods to defray expenditure for common benefit of
citizen.
Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities. Taxes consist of direct
tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as its labor equivalent (often
but not always unpaid labor). A tax may be defined as a “pecuniary burden
laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government with a payment
exacted by legislative authority.” A tax “is not a voluntary payment or
the donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative
authority” and is “any contribution imposed by government whether under the
name of toll, tribute, tillage, gable, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid,
supply, or another name.”
In modern taxation systems, taxes are levied in money, but in-kind and curve
taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their
functional equivalents. The method of taxation and the government expenditure
of taxes raised is often highly debated in politics and economics. Tax collection
is performed by a government agency such as Canada Revenue Agency, the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, or Her Majesty’s Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) in the UK. When taxes are not fully paid, civil penalties
(such as fines or forfeiture) or criminal penalties (such as incarceration) may be
imposed on the non-paying entity or individual.