The Bangladesh government has to spend much lower for collecting tax from its people compared with the sum spent in some of the world’s biggest economies including Japan, Germany and India, CPD has claimed in a report.

The finding by Central for Policy Dialogue (CPD) highlights how policymakers in the country can reap greater benefits than their counterparts in richer countries can by expanding tax net and collection.

CPD claims that for collecting Tk100 in taxes the Bangladesh government has to spend about 0.22% of the sum. For comparison, India spends 0.60%, Japan spends 1.70% and Germany spends 1.50%.

Southeast Asian countries with similar level of GDP but much higher per capital income also have to pay more for collecting taxes worth Tk100 when compared with the tax collection cost in Bangladesh.

The full digitalisation of Bangladesh tax collection system would further ease the process for policymakers and also help check evasions.