Abu Sazzad :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) failed to collect revenue target in the first seven months (July to January) in the current fiscal 2015 -16 mainly due to inefficiency and inner conflict of the officials.
The NBR has set the revenue collection target of Tk 91,168.38 crore in the first seven months, but the actual achievement was Tk Tk 79,165.44 crore. Revenue collection shortage stood at Tk 12,003 crore or 13.17 per cent of the target.
Officials said, the reason behind for falling revenue target are sluggish export growth, low rate of ADP implementation and extension of deadline on tax return submission.
Actually, the NBR official gave the statement to The New Nation to cover their inefficiency for collecting revenue during the period. The latest Bangladesh Bank data disclosed that overall import growth is satisfactory level of growth, according to the data of Export Promotion Bureau.
The CPD’s Research Fellow Towfiqul Islam Khan said, lower commodity prices in the international market and failure to accelerate private investment have taken a pressure on revenue collection.
There is no doubt revenue collection target for the current fiscal year was ambitious.It is critically important to enhance administrative efforts for revenue mobilization. But in this regard, NBR fails to reform its administration in recent years. Administrative reformation of NBR can enhance tax mobilization efforts”, he said.
The revenue shortfall needs to be checked in order to maintain fiscal balance, particularly in view of the recent pay scale revision for public servants, he opined. Lower revenue collection will put pressure the government, which can hinder the basic public services and overall development of country’s infrastructure. “If such trend cannot be reverted, the government will need to consider an early revision of the national budget for the ongoing fiscal year in view of recent developments,” said Khan.
The NBR chairman Md Nojibur Rahman told The New Nation recently, NBR already has asked its field offices to take effective and pragmatic steps towards collecting outstanding taxes across the country.
