ISLAMABAD – The federal government has decided to review its tax net target of Rupees 3621 billion after failing to meet its expectations in the first five months of financial year 2016-17.
Sources said that the Ministry of Finance had given task to Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) to collect 14 % additional tax compared to last year in 11 months of this financial year. Under this task, the FRB was to collect rupees 1196 billion in first five months (From July to November). However, it could only collect 1066 billion rupees with a deficit of 130 billion rupees.
Considering these statistics, the FBR will have to collect rupees 2555 billion in next seven months with an addition of 24 per cent which seems impossible. The federal government considering this speed of tax recovery has decided to cut target of annual tax by 200 billion rupees, giving task to FBR to collect taxes in next seven months.
It has been cleared with the decision of the government that the FBR used traditional tactics to collect additional 120 billion rupees over pressure from International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, the government has again started reviewing annual tax collection target after completion of IMF program.-Online
