LAHORE: Continuing its exceptional performance in the Financial Year 2020-21, despite giving unprecedented relief in the Finance Act 2020, whereby rates on more than 25 services had been reduced to 5 percent, Punjab Revenue Authority (PRA) succeeded in collecting Rs11.23 billion in the month of January, 2021.
This is the highest collection for January in the history of PRA, showing an increase of 10 percent on the previous record of Rs10.21 billion collected in January 2020. Overall, PRA’s collection for the first seven months of the Financial year 2020-21 is Rs.85.9 billion, showing 38% growth over the previous year. This is also by far the highest ever collection in the first seven months of a financial year.
The collections for the same period in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 were Rs56.8 billion, Rs51.7 billion and Rs62.2 billion respectively. Thus, PRA has achieved 69% of its target (Rs.125 billion) in only seven months and PRA spokesperson said that the Authority expects to not only achieve but surpass its target this year, as the economy bounces back from the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
PRA spokesperson further said that this performance has been achieved by following the Punjab Government’s and Finance Minister’s policy of reliance on stakeholder involvement, taxpayer facilitation and education, instead of resorting to coercive measures. Chairperson PRA praised the efforts of the whole team and attributed this performance to the vision and support of the Finance Minister Punjab, Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht and the dedication and hard work of the PRA team.
