ISLAMABAD: Immediate appointment of caretaker finance minister is must for the achievement of revenue target. The vacant portfolio of the finance minister is likely to hamper Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) meeting the revenue collection target.
A source at FBR told Customs Today on Monday that the government had fixed 12.1% share of FBR in the total tax to GDP rate for the ongoing fiscal year; while, the total tax to GDP ratio of the province and federation was over 17%. However, since the appointment of new caretaker premier, the FBR feels deprived of due support from the most relevant authority due to the vacant portfolio of the caretaker finance minister.
“During the previous week, the tax machinery seems to be lacking support in the form of operational intervention from the said authority which may put the tax machinery as calm and quiet,” the source said, adding that such a state of affairs would definitely affect the revenue collection in the last month of the ongoing fiscal year.
The last month of the fiscal year is very crucial from its major share in the revenue collection, the source said, adding that the month of June had almost 1/6 share in the total tune of revenue collection; therefore, further delay of at least one week would be harmful for the national economy because revenue collection target may not be achieved.
Once, the revenue collection target is missed, the source said, the government would have to pursue for more loans both from the international monetary institutions as well as domestic lending institutions. This sort of situation would prove damaging for the both the financial and economic end, they added.
Although a number of names, including Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Dr Ashfaq Hassan and others have been surfacing for the office of caretaker finance minster, but not a single name has been finalized so far, the source said adding that it showed the priorities of the caretaker setup.
“Although only one week has passed since the appointment of caretaker prime minister yet, it is a fact that he had been in loop for weeks by both the opposition and the government about his possible nomination as caretaker prime minister; therefore, he should have sorted out names of his cabinet members especially the finance minister,” the source maintained.
Now if the caretaker prime minister takes more time for the appointment of finance minister, it would put the tax machinery a little bit sluggish mode, the source said. Furthermore, a newly-appointed caretaker finance minister may also take some time to understand the system and then move ahead to pat the tax machinery.
The source further said that the caretaker prime minister has been given briefing from foreign office on foreign policy despite having no concern about foreign policy because he was mandated to hold general elections and not to revise or examine the foreign policy.
