The government has failed to achieve the revenue collection target in the just-ended fiscal year as it fell short by almost Tk 3,000 crore due to ‘political instability, lower economic activities and fall in consumer goods import’.“We’ve collected Tk 10,8299.73 crore against the target of Tk 112,259 crore in the last fiscal year. We’re expecting at least Tk 1000 crore more as some bills are still pending,” Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) M Ghulam Hossain told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
He said the economic activities, trade and commerce were disrupted, and the visit of foreigners dropped due to violent politics in the country, causing the lower revenue generation. “Today is another such day. If the businesses don’t create income, how they’ll give us taxes.”
Ghulam Hossain said they are yet to get taxes from some service sectors. “Though the amount could be nearly Tk 1,400 crore, we’ve calculated Tk 1,000 crore to add.”
He said the tax administration had put in its best efforts and strengthened monitoring to achieve the target, and hoped that the deficit could come down to Tk 2500 crore.
The NBR chief also blamed the global economic downtrend and lower GDP growth for the failure to achieve the revenue collection target. “So, there’re many reasons.”
The NBR earned Tk 32,426.57 crore revenues from the export-import against the target of Tk 35,600 crore while it earned Tk 38,816.08 crore as VAT against the target of Tk 40,400 crore.
It collected Tk 36478.74 as income tax against the target of Tk 35,300 crore while Tk 578.34 crore was earned as other taxes against the target of Tk 959 crore.
The NBR achieved overall 96.41 percent of the total target set for the previous fiscal year.
About the new fiscal year’s revenue collection target of Tk 1,36,000 crore, he said, “There’s a challenge, but achievable. I won’t say it’s impossible to achieve it.”
On political instability, he said, “This country belongs to all. Everybody has responsibilities. We shouldn’t do anything that can disrupt the economy and hamper the revenue collection.”
He said there was massive expansion of NBR activities at upazila level. “We’re trying to bring everything under an integrated automation system so that the taxpayers feel comfortable in paying taxes. Revenue should be generated automatically.”
About the progress of E-TIN services, he said over 1000 people got E-TINs (tax identification numbers) in the last three days. – UNB
