BANGLADESH GOVERNMENT DROPS BUDGET TAX PROPOSALS
The Bangladesh government dropped from its
proposed budget some tax increases that had provoked opposition
parties to call a national strike for tomorrow.
    Prime Minister Mizanur Rahman Choudhury told Parliament
last night the taxes were dropped to help farmers and the poor,
but opposition groups said the strike was still on.
    Choudhury also said the price of soybean oil and the excise
duty on some fabrics would be lowered.
    He said a proposed additional two pct land development tax
from the budget, which is for fiscal 1987/88 starting July 1,
had been dropped. Choudhury said the tax withdrawal would cause
a revenue shortfall of 130 mln taka.
    His announcement came shortly after the 21 opposition
parties called a six-hour nationwide strike for tomorrow.
    Opposition parties had said the taxes would affect the poor
and middle class and leave the wealthy untouched, and the
secretary-general of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist
Party, K.M. Obaidur Rahman, said the government's action would
not avert tomorrow's strike.
 Reuter
