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# Bangladesh offering tax cuts to firms that hire trans employees
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/bangladesh-offering-tax-cuts-to-firms-that-hire-trans-employees/
- Published: 2021-06-05T11:30:18.000Z
- Updated: 2021-06-05T11:30:18.000Z
- Description: In an effort to reduce unemployment, Bangladesh will be offering tax cuts to companies that hire trans employees.
- Author: Rachel Badham
- Tags: News, Politics, Bangladesh, LGBTQ, Trans Rights, Transgender

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/transgender-rights-pakistan-rally-getty-1-1.jpg)

In an effort to reduce unemployment among the trans community, the government in **Bangladesh** will be offering tax cuts to companies that hire trans employees. According to the [*South Asian Wire*](https://southasianwire.com/news/2021/06/03/bangladesh-cuts-taxes-for-firms-hiring-transgender-people.html?ref=scenemag.co.uk), Bangladesh is home to an estimated 1.5 million trans people, many of whom face unemployment and homelessness due to discrimination. When announcing the country’s annual national budget recently, finance minister **Mustafa Kamal** revealed the new tax plans.

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/pakistan-transgender-400-600.jpg)

He said: *“I propose to enact special tax incentives with a view to providing employment and ensuring a rise in living standards and social and economic integration of the members of the third gender”*, and explained that firms will be given either a 5% tax cut or will be reimbursed with 75% of the salaries of trans employees. This is conditional on companies hiring at least 100 trans people or the equivalent of 10% of their company workforce.

![](https://www.gscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/trans-flag-600-400.jpg)

**Anonnya Banik**, president of local trans rights group Sadakalo Hijra Unnayan Sangha, said the plan is *“absolutely good news”,* but added: *“We don’t want it to be political propaganda.”* In 2013, the Bangladesh government passed a policy that legally recognised the country’s trans community as a ‘third gender’, allowing them the right to vote and stand for election. The first [trans-inclusive school](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/first-trans-inclusive-school-opens-in-bangladesh/) in the country was then opened in late 2020.