Al Amin :
The high import growth and surge in consumption in the domestic market have contributed to maintain the upward trend in revenue collection in the first six months of the current fiscal year (2021-22).
However, the revenue board counted a shortfall against its target worth Tk17081.54 crore for the last July-December period, according a provisional data of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) as of January 5, 2022.
The revenue board collected Tk 126209.45 crore in tax revenue with 14.22 per cent growth in the first six months against its target for Tk 143290.99 crore during the aforesaid time.
Collection of import and export duties registered the highest growth at 19.50 per cent, which was 6.77 per cent in the same period of the last year.
The Value-added Tax (VAT) collection from domestic sources grew 9.54 per cent in this time, which was 1.55 per cent in the last year.
The income-tax wing of the revenue board registered 14.83 per cent growth in this period, which was 6.66 per cent in the last FY (2020-21).
The NBR officials said a big import growth and surge in consumption have contributed to maintain the upward trend in revenue collection.
“At-source or withholding tax collection is the major contributor to tax revenue. The NBR rationalised the source taxes in the budget to plug revenue leakage,” they said.
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director of the Policy Research Institute (PRI), told The New Nation, “The upward trend in revenue collection is expected, as all the sectors have rebounded strongly in recent time.”
“Besides, up trend in import of revenue-generating products, rise in consumptions of commodity on the local market and rise in commodity prices on the international market are also contributing to higher revenue collection,” he said.
The country’s actual import in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs) jumped by 53.74 per cent to $30.32 billion during the July-November period of the current FY (2021-22) from $19.72 billion during the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
However, opening of LCs, generally known as import orders, rose by more than 53 per cent to $35.43 billion during the period
under review, from $23.12 billion during the corresponding period of FY 21.
Last FY, the NBR achieved above 20-per cent growth in tax collection despite Covid-induced economic slowdown amid lockdown in different phases.
The NBR collected Tk 2.61 trillion in tax revenue in FY 2020-21against the revised target of Tk 3.01 trillion.
The tax growth was twofold in FY ’21 against its average growth of 10 per cent during the last five fiscal years.
For the current FY, the government has set Tk 3.30-trillion target for the NBR.
