Abstract—VAT is a broad-based tax levied at multiple
stages of production (and distribution) with – crucially taxes
on inputs credited against taxes on output. Bangladesh
introduced VAT in 1991 replacing the previous taxes like sales
tax, excise duty and business turnover taxes. In last two
decades VAT has become an all encompassing domestic tax
covering the domestic manufacturing, wholesale, retail and all
the service sectors in the country. This paper is a first attempt
to measures the incidence of Value Added Tax (VAT) in
Bangladesh. The results show that the VAT incidence varies
for people in different income groups. For instance, the VAT
incidence for the lowest income group is 6.92 percent whereas
for the highest income group it is only 4.56 percent. The higher
income groups are also enjoying fewer burdens than the lower
income groups. Comparing the results with and without VAT
exemptions, the study finds that overall the VAT in
Bangladesh is regressive. The study provides some policy
recommendations that could help design a better VAT system
in the developing countries with a particular case in
Bangladesh.
Index Terms—Tax incidence, Value Added Tax,
progressivity, empirical study, Bangladesh.
Corresponding author, Tel. +61737353249, Fax: +61737353272,
(Email:tapan.sarker@griffith.edu.au).
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Cite:Nahida Faridy and Tapan Sarker, "Incidence of Value Added Tax (Vat) in the Developing Countries: A Case in Bangladesh," International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance vol.2, no.5, pp. 437-442, 2011.