Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) collection rose 12.2 per cent to Rs1,766.819 billion during first nine months (July-March) of this fiscal year compared to Rs1,574.698bn in the corresponding period last year.
The government has already reduced the projected revenue target of Rs2,810bn to Rs2,691bn for 2014-15. In February, the government imposed 10pc regulatory duty on 314 items and increased general sales tax on petroleum products to 27pc from 22pc. However, the sales tax was revised downward to 18pc in March 2015. The tax authorities will have to collect Rs924bn in the next three months (April-June) to achieve the revised target.
The FBR paid Rs77.812bn in refund claims during the July-March period of this fiscal year as against Rs81.494bn in the corresponding period last year, reflecting a decline of 4.5pc.
A tax official told Dawn that the collection is expected to reach Rs2.5-2.6 trillion if it registers 15pc growth in the remaining months of this fiscal year.
The break-up showed that collection under the head of direct taxes stood at Rs693.2bn during the July-March period of 2014-15 compared to Rs598.829bn in the same period of last year, an increase of 15.8pc.
Sales tax collection rose 6.1pc to Rs791.949bn from Rs716.793bn in the corresponding period of last year. This growth was driven by higher imports as sales tax on import stage witnessed a growth of 11.4pc, while a paltry growth of 0.7pc was witnessed in the domestic sales tax collection. A fabulous growth of 23.4pc was registered in customs duty collection at Rs208.930bn during July-March period compared to Rs169.263bn in the same period last year.
The collection under the head of federal excise duty (FED) increased 6.2pc to Rs104.341bn during the July-March period of 2014-15 compared to Rs89.814bn in the corresponding period last year.
The only option for the government to meet the target is to either raise existing tax rates or introduce new taxes. The fundamental flaws in the tax machinery so far remain almost untouched.
