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There has been a rush of people whitening their black money by paying only 7.5 per cent tax as the revenue officials see strong response after the government relaxed rules in fiscal 2005-06 to tap a hidden source of revenue income.
"Black money worth over Tk 1.0 billion has been declared in the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal," National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Khairuzzaman Monday told reporters.
The trend is very encouraging as the rate of declaration of illegal money is higher this year, he added.
The NBR chairman, however, did not disclose the identity of the people declaring their illegal money during the period.
The government this year gave the people last chance for whitening their black money despite criticism from various quarters.
The NBR officials believe that illegal money worth about Tk 10 billion might be declared in the remaining period of the fiscal. The sum would be more than half of total illegal money declared in the past three fiscals.
As the present four-party alliance government re-introduced black money whitening provision in 2002-03 after a gap of one year, Tk 17.75 billion worth of illegal money was legalised.
Economists and industrialists observed that the provision of legalising black money was only helping money laundering by dishonest businessmen.
In the past 34 years, such steps were offered six times for a total of eight years. During the eight years only Tk 36.95 billion of black money was invested.
The money whitening scheme, first introduced in the fiscal 1975-76 through a Martial Law Regulation, helped inflow of black money worth Tk 700 million into the economy. The rate of tax was up to 20 per cent.
During the fiscal 1987-88, Tk 2.0 billion illegal money was declared white at a rate of 20 per cent. The next fiscal saw an injection of Tk 2.5 billion and Tk 4.0 billion in 1989-90 under the same tax structure.
The amount of black money whitened during the fiscal 2000-01 was Tk 10 billion at 10 per cent tax rate.
The government re-introduced black money whitening scheme in 2002-03 after the provision remained suspended in 2001-02. The provision drew Tk 17.75 billion worth of black money during the last three fiscals.
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