No idea about 15pc VAT on metro rail ticket: Quader

Amid speculations regarding the imposition of a 15 percent VAT on metro rail tickets with effect from July 1, Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said that they know nothing about the matter.

“Who suddenly announced such a thing? We don’t know anything about it,” he said.

Quader, also general secretary of the ruling Awami League, said this while addressing an Iftar and Eid gifts distribution programme organised by the party’s front Matshjeeby League at Rajdhani High School ground on Manik Mia Avenue in Dhaka.

Calling the metro rail a service-oriented transportation, he said any changes regarding the mass transport system would be made after discussing with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“People are benefiting from it. And we haven’t made any decision on that,” he said about the VAT issue.

Quader said they don’t know who announced it in a hurry before any high-level decision of the government. Journalists should have asked about it.

There is currently a VAT waiver on Metro Rail tickets, which will expire on June 30. DMTCL requested NBR to extend the period but the revenue board expressed unwillingness to extend the exemption.

The second secretary of NBR’s VAT Division Barrister Md. Badruzzaman Munshi sent a letter to the managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in this regard.

According to the letter, VAT exemption on metro rail tickets will expire on June 30.

In the letter, the revenue board said that various development activities are going on in the country with the goal of attaining the status of a developed country by 2041.

The government has to constantly provide money to carry out those development activities, which is mainly collected through direct and indirect taxes.

Tax exemptions are given to various sectors on different occasions with the aim of promoting domestic industries, reduce import dependence and developing small and cottage industries, etc, said the letter.

That is why tax exemption benefits are being gradually withdrawn from various sectors.

Freedom fighters and children of three feet in height can travel free of charge, and people with special needs can travel on metro rail at a 10 to 15 percent discount.