Digitizing Government Payments in Bangladesh: A Mobile Banking Approach

In the era of digitalisation, process simplification and automation are the calls of the day. The Government of Bangladesh has also been prioritising the digitalisation factor in each sector of public administration. Taxes and utility bills contribute to the public revenue, which has a great role in infrastructural and other development goals of government. However, citizens have to undergo many a difficulty in paying the municipal tax and water bill through the longstanding manual system of document distribution and payment process. In this case, the widely accepted and globally proven financial model of mobile banking can eliminate quite a number of hassles in the citizens' tax and bill payment in the contemporary system. This study examines the concurrent payment mechanism of municipality tax and water bill in Bangladesh. The study results confirm the citizens' manifold inconveniences in prevalent tax and bill payment process. The study respondents also supported the replacement of the manual system with the mobile banking process as it ensures more convenience in payment of taxes and utility bills.