The collection even surpassed the target, which was set at Rs 90.41 billion, by over Rs 3 billion. Concerned officials attributed the growth to increased domestic consumption, which led to sharp rise in imports, change in revenue policy and also reforms in revenue administration. [break]
Ministry of Finance (MoF) has attributed the higher collection growth rate to reforms introduced in the way revenue system functioned and the new measures adopted to plug revenue leakage.
Increased investigation capacity of Inland Revenue Department (IRD), which went on to slap fines and recoup huge VAT theft, also generated additional revenue and also caused the demonstration effect, officials claimed.
Statistics show that value added tax (VAT) stood as the largest revenue contributor for the government during the period. It generated about Rs 29 billion in revenue during the first seven months. MoF statistics further shows that customs duty was the second largest contributor with Rs 19 billion.
The government mobilized Rs 17 billion from income tax, while collections from excise duty jumped to Rs 13 billion during the period. Likewise, the government mobilized Rs 3.50 billion from registration fees, Rs 2 billion from vehicle tax and Rs 11.50 billion from non-tax revenue sources.
Though all key sources posted a sound growth in collection, concerned officials said they are still facing a tough time to meet the collection target set for VAT. The government has set a target of collecting Rs 176.50 billion in the current fiscal year. To realize it, the collections need to grow by an average 24 percent over what was mobilized in the last fiscal year.
Given the existing revenue growth trend, Revenue Secretary Krishna Hari Baskota told myrepublica.com that MoF was confident of meeting the target easily.
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