Traders on Thursday demanded the government should withdraw taxes imposed on the proposed budget for 2011-12 FY on eyeglass and spectacles to make the treatment of eye affordable for the people.
They said the items should be considered as medical equipment and the government should not take tax measures in the medical sector that will deprive people the facility of eye treatment.
They made the demand from a human chain formed in front of National Press Club in the capital under the banner of Bangladesh Optical Industries and Traders Association.
The association leaders informed that the
government had imposed tariff value and 20 per cent supplementary duty on the spectacles for which the import duty for per item would increased to Tk 65 for metal and reading frame and Tk 45 for sunglass and plastic frame.
They informed that 80 per cent eyeglass frames are sold at footpaths for Tk 40-50 and the government decision of imposing tax would increase their price threefold making eye treatment for the poor more costly.
The leaders informed that about 90 per cent of spectacles and other optical materials were imported from foreign countries while only 5 per cent of them were manufactured in the country.
They said the government should consider eyeglasses and spectacles as medical equipment and withdraw the tax from those items.
Bangladesh Optical Industries and Traders Association former
president Fazlul Haque, Sheikh Abul Khair, vice-president Jewel Rahman, Sanaullah Khan, Sarwar Kamaland Qazi Jane Alam, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Source : New Age
