The Finance Division has reportedly informed the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet that major contribution to 7.6 percent increase in revenue collection during the first seven months of the current fiscal year was largely owing to higher collection through excise duty. Sources said that the ECC meeting presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was given a presentation by the secretary finance on tax collection during July-January 2016-17 with a comparison to the same period of last fiscal year.

The ECC meeting was informed that against the revenue collection target of Rs 3,612 billion for the current fiscal year, tax collection during the first seven months of the current fiscal year was Rs 1,692 billion, 7.6 per cent more than Rs 1572 billion collected during the same period of the last fiscal year. Against Rs 1,558 billion collection of direct taxes target, Rs 669 billion were collected during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as opposed to Rs 605.4 billion for the same period of the last fiscal year, reflecting a growth of 10.5 per cent.

The growth in sales tax remained negative by 0.3 per cent during the first seven months of the current fiscal year with Rs 670.1 billion against Rs 672.4 billion for the same period of the last fiscal year. Sales tax target was projected at Rs 1,437 billion for the current fiscal year.

The ECC was further informed that collection of federal exercise duty was Rs 213 billion during the July-January 2016-17, up by 12.9 per cent over the same period of the last fiscal year. The collection of customs duty remained Rs 257 billion during the period under review, up by 22.4 per cent as compared to Rs 209 billion for the same period of the last fiscal year. The Finance Division has projected a target of Rs 213 billion for revenue collection through federal excise duty and Rs 413 billion from customs duty during the current fiscal year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017