Decision to cancel the provision of white money

The interim government has decided to cancel the provision of white money from the budget of the current financial year.

The decision was taken at the weekly meeting of the Advisory Council held at the Chief Adviser's residence and office in Yamuna on Thursday (August 29).

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Ministry of Water Resources gave this information at the end of the meeting.

In the 2024-25 fiscal year budget approved last July, the ousted Awami League government made rules to legalize black money by taxing it at 15 percent. This decision of the then government faced strong criticism. Because legitimate taxpayers have to pay up to 30 percent income tax as well as additional surcharges. Critics said allowing black money to be laundered through a 15 percent tax could further fuel irregularities in the financial sector.

Recently, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the apex organization of businessmen, called for the cancellation of the opportunity to whiten black money.

The then Awami League government gave an opportunity to legalize black money by paying 10 percent tax in the fiscal year 2020-21. According to NBR sources, those 11 thousand 839 people legalized about 20 thousand 500 crore rupees, which is the highest in the history of the country in one year. NBR got a revenue of Tk 264 crore from those investments.