Covid pushes 64% fall in travel tax revenue

Bangladesh’s revenue from travel tax fell straight down to Tk 226 crore for the fiscal year 2020-21, marking a 64 per cent fall compared to the last fiscal.

The revenue collected sums up to around 32 per cent of the target, which was set at Tk 1,050 crore for the sector.

According to data from the National Board of Revenue (NBR), only Tk 225.93 crore was collected in the fiscal year marking a massive shortfall of Tk 714.07 crore.

In FY2019-20, the NBR collected Tk 930.96 crore in travel tax. Talking to The Business Post, NBR officials attributed the failure in reaching revenue target to the bar on both domestic and international travel in the wake of the imposed travel restrictions amidst Covid-19 pandemic.

They also said the travel tax collection went down as the field offices managed to collect only one-fourth of the target during the period because of the ongoing pandemic.

Meanwhile, the NBR has set a target of Tk 675 crore to be collected as travel tax in FY2021-22.

From July till August this year, the revenue board has already collected Tk 49 crore in travel tax against a two-month target of Tk 72 crore.

However, the revenue collected over the period was Tk 28 crore more compared to the same period of the last fiscal. “With the resumption of normal activities following the withdrawal of the lockdowns or restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak, revenue from this sector is also been witnessing an upward trend, which is poised to be increased further this year,” NBR Second Secretary (Tax Monitoring and Coordination) Dipak Kumar Paul told The Business Post.

As the coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact in all the sectors of the country, the NBR had to face a record revenue deficit of Tk 41,118.20 crore in the outgoing FY2020-21.