Revenue board officials blame fall in domestic consumption, sluggish economy
Earnings by the National Board of Revenue fell short of the target by Tk 5,798.54 crore or 15.81 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year 2015-16.
Revenue board officials attributed the shortfall to fall in domestic consumption and sluggish economic activities in the country.
According to the provisional data of the NBR, taxmen managed to collect Tk 30,910.67 crore in the July-September period against the target of 36,709.21 crore set for the time.
The revenue board chairman, Md Nojibur Rahman, told New Age that that revenue collection grew by 9.51 per cent year-on-year in the July-September period.
The growth target has been set at 29 per cent for the entire fiscal year.
Taxmen from all the three wings of the NBR — income tax, value-added tax at local stage and customs duty — failed to meet the target set for the period.
The revenue board, however, has yet to officially publish the revenue collection data for any month of the current fiscal year, though traditionally it publishes data every month.
According to the provisional data of the revenue board, local VAT collection grew by 10.40 per cent, income tax collection grew by 8.80 per cent and customs duty increased by 8.16 per cent in the period.
In the July-September period, VAT collection faced the highest shortfall with Tk 2,417 crore followed by income tax collection with shortfall of Tk 2,026.91 crore and customs duty with deficit of Tk 1,359.58 crore.
VAT wing collected Tk 11,499 crore against the target of Tk 13,916 crore set for the period.
On the other hand, income tax wing and customs wing managed to collect Tk 9,551 crore and Tk 9,855.67 crore respectively against their respective target of Tk 11,577.91 crore and Tk 11,215.25 crore for the period.
Officials told New Age on Monday that the revenue collection experienced such a huge shortfall in the first quarter mainly because of dull economic activities both in domestic and external sectors.
The trend of revenue collection shows that domestic consumption, industrial production, trading activities and import-export performance was not good in the period, they said.
Growth in VAT and customs duty collection is totally depended on domestic consumption, trade and business in the domestic market and export-import activities.
The revenue collection will not pick up, if the performance of economy remains dull, they said.
Similarly, income tax collection also faced the shortfall due to the slower business activities, the officials said.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, in July-August, overall import grew only by 8 per cent while Export Promotion Bureau said export grew only by 0.83 per cent in the July-September period.
‘Usually, the revenue collection remains a little bit slower in the first quarter of any fiscal year but the scenario this time is quite frustrating,’ a tax official told New Age.
The revenue collection target for the revenue board has also been set at excessively higher for the current fiscal year, he said.
‘In the last five years, revenue earnings by the NBR grew by on average 17.28 per cent while the government set the growth target at 29 per cent for the current fiscal year,’ the official said.
The government has set the revenue collection target at Tk 1,76,370 crore for the NBR for the FY16.
Of the total amount, the highest collection target has been set for income tax wing at Tk 65,932 crore followed by VAT at local stage at Tk 63,902 crore and customs duty at Tk 46,536 crore.
Revenue board officials attributed the shortfall to fall in domestic consumption and sluggish economic activities in the country.
According to the provisional data of the NBR, taxmen managed to collect Tk 30,910.67 crore in the July-September period against the target of 36,709.21 crore set for the time.
The revenue board chairman, Md Nojibur Rahman, told New Age that that revenue collection grew by 9.51 per cent year-on-year in the July-September period.
The growth target has been set at 29 per cent for the entire fiscal year.
Taxmen from all the three wings of the NBR — income tax, value-added tax at local stage and customs duty — failed to meet the target set for the period.
The revenue board, however, has yet to officially publish the revenue collection data for any month of the current fiscal year, though traditionally it publishes data every month.
According to the provisional data of the revenue board, local VAT collection grew by 10.40 per cent, income tax collection grew by 8.80 per cent and customs duty increased by 8.16 per cent in the period.
In the July-September period, VAT collection faced the highest shortfall with Tk 2,417 crore followed by income tax collection with shortfall of Tk 2,026.91 crore and customs duty with deficit of Tk 1,359.58 crore.
VAT wing collected Tk 11,499 crore against the target of Tk 13,916 crore set for the period.
On the other hand, income tax wing and customs wing managed to collect Tk 9,551 crore and Tk 9,855.67 crore respectively against their respective target of Tk 11,577.91 crore and Tk 11,215.25 crore for the period.
Officials told New Age on Monday that the revenue collection experienced such a huge shortfall in the first quarter mainly because of dull economic activities both in domestic and external sectors.
The trend of revenue collection shows that domestic consumption, industrial production, trading activities and import-export performance was not good in the period, they said.
Growth in VAT and customs duty collection is totally depended on domestic consumption, trade and business in the domestic market and export-import activities.
The revenue collection will not pick up, if the performance of economy remains dull, they said.
Similarly, income tax collection also faced the shortfall due to the slower business activities, the officials said.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, in July-August, overall import grew only by 8 per cent while Export Promotion Bureau said export grew only by 0.83 per cent in the July-September period.
‘Usually, the revenue collection remains a little bit slower in the first quarter of any fiscal year but the scenario this time is quite frustrating,’ a tax official told New Age.
The revenue collection target for the revenue board has also been set at excessively higher for the current fiscal year, he said.
‘In the last five years, revenue earnings by the NBR grew by on average 17.28 per cent while the government set the growth target at 29 per cent for the current fiscal year,’ the official said.
The government has set the revenue collection target at Tk 1,76,370 crore for the NBR for the FY16.
Of the total amount, the highest collection target has been set for income tax wing at Tk 65,932 crore followed by VAT at local stage at Tk 63,902 crore and customs duty at Tk 46,536 crore.
Source: New Age
