NOAB slams new duty on newsprint
Staff Correspondent
The Newspaper Owners Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) has strongly protested the proposed increase in import duty on newsprint in the proposed budget from 22.55 percent to 25 percent at a time when the newspaper industry is already struggling hard to survive.In a statement on behalf of the NOAB Executive Committee, President Mahfuz Anam and Vice-President Golam Sarwar feared the new tax proposals would substantially increase the cost of newsprint and seriously affect the newspaper industry and those working in it as a whole. While local industries supply only 15 percent newsprint to the newspaper industry, the remaining 85 percent is imported at a very high cost. Thus, the imposition of enhanced duty and VAT would seriously hamper the industry further. In addition, the rising value of US dollar against taka is further adding to the high cost faced by the industry. NAOB members had apprised the finance minister in the past about the problems facing the industry including rate of government advertisement, non-payment of dues and inadequate government allocation for this purpose. NOAB members are shocked to notice that instead of solving the existing problems, the finance minister has proposed new taxes on an industry which is devoted to public service and strengthening democracy.
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