ISLAMABAD: The Finance Ministry has included various recommendations of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to enhance revenue, including the revised version of super tax in the budget proposals for the fiscal year 2016-17.
A one-time tax was levied through Finance Act, 2015 on the affluent and rich individuals, association of persons and companies earning income above Rs 500 million in tax year 2015 at a rate of 4 percent of income for banking companies and 3 percent of income for all others in order to meet enhanced revenue needs for the rehabilitation of Temporarily Displaced Persons. This tax was named as super tax.
Sources told Customs Today that the Finance Ministry has included various recommendations of the FBR for meeting the enhanced targets of revenue collection in upcoming fiscal year.
“Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has been fixing hard revenue collection targets in last three years which have resulted in enhancing the revenue collection of the FBR almost to double figures” the source added. The source said that options for increasing revenue collection have been included in the Finance Bill and finalized budget proposals for FY 2016-17 would approved by the Parliament.
The source said that direct and indirect losses sustained by the economy due to terrorist acts in the country during the last five years had absorbed a large portion of national exchequer and taxpayers’ money. Therefore, keeping the said losses in view, FBR had proposed measures to the Finance Ministry to make up the wide ranging differences in the national income and expenditures.
The source further revealed that FBR spent Rs61 million on advertisement and publicity of the Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme (VTCS) which was announced by the government and presented in the form of a Bill before the National Assembly last year.
The source giving details about the super tax levied in 2015, said that it was levied through an amendments made in the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 through Finance Act 2015.
