It was mentioned in the first part of this two-part article that if wealth and income inequality are not reduced swiftly, Bangladesh could face further risks of a ‘Red July.’ However, there is an opportunity to generate additional revenue for development investments benefiting the underprivileged population.

In a report from 2024, it is shown that there are 12,089,000 registered with TIN; however, only about 3.6 million filed returns that year. Not all those who file returns pay taxes. Among those who genuinely pay taxes, the majority are government employees.

Many economic commentators claim that the number of actual return filers who pay some taxes in Bangladesh is around 1.8 million or near that figure. Among these taxpayers, about half are government and private sector employees. If they are excluded, the number of people paying income tax in Bangladesh stands at only 800,000-1,000,000. Yet, if 5 per cent of the country's population is eligible to pay tax, about 8-9 million people should be paying taxes.

In February 2024, the Bangladesh Economic Association claimed that ''87 per cent of the wealthy and upper-middle classes in the country do not pay income tax.'' Many in the informal economy can stay outside the tax net without a license or registration. However, there is a large economic domain in that sector.