No one to speak for poor, middle-income group: Dr Debapriya

Distinguished fellow of CPD Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya has said the proposed budget for FY23 did not offer incentives for poor and middle-income people rather offered amnesty for money launderers, which means there are no political representatives to speak for them.

“The budget did not provide anything to the poor and middle class, rather benefitted money launderers and disappointed honest taxpayers,” said Dr Debapriya, the convener of the Citizen’s Platform for SDG Implementation.

He made the statement while addressing a media briefing titled - National Budget 2022-2023: What is there for the underprivileged people? - organized by Citizen’s Platform, Bangladesh at the BRAC Center in Dhaka on Sunday.

The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) fellow also said,” The scope for money launderers to get back their money is an immoral, politically reckless, and economically inappropriate decision.”

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“In the budget analysis, it seems that the middle class is now politically unrepresentative, socially unguarded and a target of neglect. On the contrary, they have been accused of tax evasion,” he added.

“The finance minister has reduced the corporate tax rate but has kept the tax-free income limit at Tk 3 lakh without giving benefits to the middle class. Although it should be Tk 5 lakh now. These aspects of the budget are proving that this budget is benefiting a class,” said Dr Debapriya.

He suggested that to bring economic stability, it is important to see if it is necessary to seek foreign aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) without making a mistake like Sri Lanka.