ISLAMABAD: Government is considering a downward revision of the annual tax collection target by Rs 130 billion for the current fiscal year after facing revenue shortfall of over Rs 100 billion in the period of eight months. The set target for the fiscal year 2013-14 is Rs 2475 billion. If revised downward by the proposed limit it shall be brought down to Rs 2345 billion.
An FBR official said that the government has to revise the revenue collection target for the ongoing fiscal year, as it cannot impose new taxes to reach the annual target due to the public and political pressure. He regretted that under such circumstances FBR’s revenue collection could not exceed than Rs 2345 billion, which is already estimated by the international monetary fund (IMF).
Talking about the imposition of new taxes, he said that government has the easiest way to increase revenues by enhancing the tax rates but it would not do so keeping in view the public/ political parties pressure.
The government having introduced heavy taxation measures worth over Rs 200 billion in budget 2013-14 is still struggling to achieve the target of Rs 2475 billion. According to the FBR’s latest collection figures, the tax department has collected Rs 1363 from July 2013 to February 2014 against the target of Rs 1464 billion, leaving shortfall above Rs 100 billion.
Meanwhile, FBR has to collect Rs 1112 billion in remaining March to June 2014, which means an average Rs 278 billion be accumulated each month, a challenging task. However, FBR’s Spokesperson Shahid Hussain Asad was optimistic that tax department would achieve its target of Rs 2475 billion set for current fiscal year. He hoped FBR to yield positive response regarding the PM’s tax incentive scheme as the government has extended the date for filing the tax returns to April 30, 2014.
