Holders of black money, or undeclared income made through smuggling and other illegal means, in Bangladesh declared more than 35 billion taka ($502 million) in the 2005/06 fiscal year, tax officials said on Saturday.
They said there was a huge rush to declare income on Friday, the last day of the 2005/2006 (July-June) fiscal year and the deadline set by the government for people to reveal such income in its move to discourage tax evasion.
Nearly 5 billion taka was declared on Friday alone, and a around 2.63 billion taka in revenue was collected by the government, said A.S. Jahir Muhammad, a member of the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
"This (declaration of hidden income) is a success ... as we could motivate them to come clean," Jahir said. "But the Board will take stern action against those who still failed to legalise their undisclosed money," he said.
NBR officials said Bangladeshis pay between 10 percent and 25 percent of their income in taxes, but the government tried to persuade tax dodgers to come forward by asking them to pay just 7.5 percent on their undeclared income. Jahir said "black money" accounts for about 10 percent of Bangladesh's gross domestic product of roughly $60 billion.
Economists have estimated the country might have more than 500 billion taka ($7.2 billion) in undeclared income, of which only 18 billion taka has been declared in the last three years to June 2005.
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