Al Amin :
The higher inflation rate has slowed revenue collection from the individual taxpayers in the last month of the current fiscal year, although the tax receipt from customs wing maintained the previous trend.
The revenue earnings from Value-Added Tax (VAT) and Income Tax wings of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) dropped to 8.84 per cent and 8.29 per cent respectively in the last month from 16.82 per cent in the previous six months of the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the collection growth from the customs wing maintained the previous post at 22.49 per cent in January riding on increased import growth.
People’s daily expenditure has been increased sharply for the high prices of all essential commodities that enable them not to pay taxes, experts said.
On the other hand, increased prices of imported commodities, particularly fuel oil and food items, in the global market have helped enhance the collection of duties and taxes by the customs wing, they added.
Syed Aminul Kabir, former member (Tax) of the NBR, told The New Nation on Saturday, “Higher inflation has contributed to the positive growth in revenue collection significantly.”
“But the collection from income tax sector may fall as the people’s daily expenditure has gone up for higher commodity prices,” he said.
The revenue board earned Tk 24,347 crore against the monthly target of Tk 29,329 crore with 12.55 per cent growth, according to a provisional data.
Of the total, the customs revenue posted an impressive 22.49 per cent growth, the highest among the other wings, due to an increase in global commodity prices. The revenue board collected Tk 7,533 crore against the monthly target of
Tk 8605 crore from the sector in the last month.
The board fetched Tk 9,680 crore against the target of Tk 12,160 crore from VAT sector, while Tk7,133 crore against the target of 8,546 crore from Income Tax during the time.
Tax officials, however, considered that close monitoring, economic rebound, automation move, easing of the tax payment procedures, legal reforms and transparency were the main reasons behind the higher collection growth rate.
The hefty revenue collection growth is largely contributed by at source or withholding tax, they said.
The government has increased source tax in some key points where it would be able to mobilise higher revenue with less effort, they added.
They also said the collection of source tax needs intensive monitoring as many of the tax deducting authorities refrained from depositing tax properly that they deducted from the service seekers.
