Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Revenue collection fell short of the government target for the first half of the current fiscal year due to weak commodity prices and slowdown in economic activities in the country.
The government received Tk 80,255 crore revenues from July to December last year against the target of Tk 87,238, showing Tk 6,983 crore or 8 per cent shortfall against target.
Revenue collection in July-December, however, grew by 18 per cent compared to the corresponding period of the last fiscal. But the growth is slower compared with the growth target of 35 per cent set in the National Budget for the fiscal year 2016-17.
“It is an ambitious target. So, it is difficult to accomplish,” a high official of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) told The New Nation on Tuesday, preferring anonymity. “We are facing great difficulty in achieving the target due to various internal and external factors. Besides, non-implementation of the new VAT Act a big reason for the revenue shortfall,” he added.
The NBR official said the revenue collection by the NBR was good indeed at the beginning of the current fiscal. In July, the collection surpassed Tk 1000 crore against the target. The collection in the first quarter went up to Tk 4,000 crore from the target.
“Now it is slowing down from the actual target causing concern about achieving this year’s target,” he apprehends.
NBR’s income tax and VAT wing faced a big shortage in July-December period of the current fiscal as the collection fell short by Tk 3,270 crore. VAT wing alone lagged behind by Tk 3,033 crore. Besides, Customs duty collection at import and export stage lags behind Tk 681 crore, according to an official figure.
For July-December last year, the Revenue Board realized Tk 30,506 crore from VAT against the target of Tk 33,539 crore, showing 11.64 per cent collection shortfall.
During the period, income tax collection stood at Tk 24,815 crore against the target of Tk 28,084 crore, showing 9.4 per cent collection shortfall while
customs wings collected Tk 24,933 crore against the target of Tk 25,614 crore that is 2.66 per cent short for the target.
When asked, NBR Chairman Nojibur Rahman said, no matter the shortfall is evident in revenue collection but the collection growth already hits the record high.
He said officials of the revenue board are working hard to achieve this year’s collection target.
“We have intensified monitoring and supervision in potential revenue earnings sectors to realize more tax. Besides, we have imparted trainings to the field level officials so that the government budgetary target could be achieved.
Efforts are on to realize arrear tax-revenues remained stuck up over the years at various public and private entities. Besides, measures have been taken to realize Tk 32,000 crore now struck in pending revenue related cases. If all these measures are yield good result, we would be able to realize the budgetary target of revenue collection,” he added.
Officials said the government is seeking to boost tax-revenue collection to fund better infrastructure, education and health care. Increased investment in these sectors would help lift the economic growth from 7 per cent to 8 per cent.
“The government projects the tax revenue collection by the NBR would grow by 35 per cent this year. It is a highly ambitious target. I think, it will be impossible to accomplish,” Noted economist Dr A B Mirza Azizul Islam told The New Nation yesterday.
He said, “Six months into the fiscal year, we continue to see lower-than-expected collections. Such a shortfall may widen budget deficit and it could force the government to determine budget cuts.
