The National Board of Revenue (NBR) struggles to meet its revenue collection target amid the adverse impact of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic on the overall economic activities.
NBR has realized Tk 48,340.78 crore revenues in the first three months (July-September) of the current fiscal year against the target of Tk 63,713.79 crore, showing a shortfall of Tk15, 373.01 crore.
The Board achieved 75.87 per cent of the total collection target during the period under review, according to the provisional data of the NBR.
The revenue collection stood at Tk47,388 crore, against the target of Tk 62,229 crore during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
The deficit was Tk14,907 crores.
As the revenue collection fell short of the target in a big margin, economists have urged the government should be more creative and tactful in mobilizing maximum revenue when economic activities continue to falter amid Covid-19 pandemic.
They also suggested the NBR should put emphasis on building robust digital infrastructure to broaden the Value Added Tax (VAT) and tax net.
The government should enforce better tax compliance and simplify the indirect and direct tax systems, they added.
The data shows the Customs Wing lagged far behind in collection as import-export dropped. Collections
by customs fell short of Tk 5905.02 crore in the first quarter in the current fiscal year.
The wing collected Tk 15901.52 revenues against the target of Tk 21806.54 crore.
Officials said the deficit is mainly due to duty exemption on various imported products and items.
Besides, the VAT wing realized Tk 16,519 crore revenues against the target of Tk 23,197.14 crore. The sector recorded a Tk 6,677.42 crore collection shortfall.
“The deficit is mainly due to VAT waivers on natural gas, dull business, and failure to introduce online collection system,” said an official.
The Board comparatively did better in September than the previous two months of the current fiscal year as economic activities have resumed during this time.
The revenue collection in September alone was Tk 18,180.94 crore against the target of Tk 22,911.64 crore and the deficit was Tk4730.70 crore.
Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute, suggested the government strengthen NBR’s activities to widen the tax net without imposing burden on people.
Dr Fahmida Khatun, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, said, “The pace of revenue collection does not match with the economic growth claimed by the government.” She added, “The government is providing lots of waivers and this affects revenue collection. This culture should be stopped.”
NBR officials, however, said the income tax offices will be opened in all upazilas across the country and initiatives have been taken to formulate a project in this regard.
“If such offices are set up at the Upazila level, then the common people will feel encouraged to pay taxes. I think we will be able to achieve the revenue collection target as we will bring all the eligible people under the tax net,” he added.
