H1 earnings fall 15% short of target due to political turmoil
The revenue collection is apprehended to be lower than projection in the current fiscal year, forcing the government to consider revising down the target.
The estimate would be revised late this month as Finance Minister AMA Muhith indicated while visiting the National Board of Revenue headquarters in Dhaka after yesterday, taking office for the second time on the day before.
NBR Chairman Ghulam Hussain apprised the minister, who set the revenue target before placing the budget for FY14, of the sorry state of collection in the first half of the fiscal with around Tk8,535 crore or 15% short of the target of Tk57,519 crore.
He explained the minister on how the frequent shutdowns and blockades in last couple of months had affected the revenue as the fall out of almost stalled economic and business activities – particularly the export and import activities.
Inflation and volatility in exchange rate were also held responsible.
“The revenue target needs to be revised,” Muhith said, indicating a decision to be taken by the end of this month.
He said the economic activities came to a standstill due to the political turmoil for last three months.
“The political turmoil will come to an end within this month”.
The minister, however, advised the revenue authorities to ensure client-friendly attitude to improve the revenue scenario.
A NBR official said they have already proposed the finance ministry to lower the target to Tk125,000 crore from Tk136,090 crore targeted for the current fiscal year.
Before the FY14 budget, NBR had proposed the ministry to fix a target at a level what they have proposed now apprehending the political situation ahead of the general election, but the minister had refused the proposal.
The NBR chairman apprised the minister, who was accompanied by State Minister for Finance MA Mannan, of revenue collection situation what he termed was not satisfactory as compared to the previous years.
“We have failed to collect a major portion of the revenue for last three months. December was the worst, which alone suffered Tk3,500 crore shortfall,” he said. “NBR cannot even approach the businessmen for tax due to the situation.”
He said it was beyond the NBR’s consideration that it would have to face such worst case this year when it had to receive tax returns at least one lakh less than the previous year. There are, however, requests from 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh taxpayers who sought time to submit the returns.
During the July-December period, revenue collection fell Tk8,535 crore short of target while income tax wing witnesses Tk3,433 crore, VAT wing Tk2,844 crore, customs wing Tk2,050 crore and other taxes Tk209 crore, according to provisional figures.
NBR collected Tk15,634 crore in income tax against Tk19,067 crore target, Tk18,146 crore in VAT against Tk20,990 crore target, Tk14,912 crore in customs duties against Tk16,962 crore target and Tk291crore in other taxes against Tk500crore target.
The NBR set a target to collect Tk1,36,090 crore in revenue for the current fiscal year with highest Tk48,300 crore in income tax, Tk51,000 crore in VAT, Tk35,790 crore in customs duties and Tk1,000 crore in other taxes.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
