ACCORDING to the data, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) beat the target of Rs2,550 billion set for July-Jan (2020-21) by collecting net revenue of Rs2,570 billion, marking an increase of Rs.20 billion.
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday appreciated field formations of the Board for this achievement saying that bold tax audit and enforcement, and counter-smuggling measures made this possible. He also lauded the FBR Head Office team for developing the IT-enabled transformation plan and procuring cutting-edge Track and Trace System.
The FBR always remains in focus in relation to efforts for achieving tax targets and some quarters put blame on it for not meeting targets assigned to it by the authorities concerned or imposed indirectly by lenders especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The desire of the higher authorities to increase the tax collection notwithstanding, one must realize that the exercise is dependent mainly on overall economic conditions of the country, ability of the Government to devise prudent tax policies and its commitment to enforce policies and actions in a non-discriminatory manner without considering political fall-outs. Given this background, the FBR must be given credit for increasing the tax base and tax collection despite various odds.
The realization of the seven-month tax collection target is not a mean achievement if one takes into account the highly negative impact of the Covid-19 situation on the economy. It should also be acknowledged that the Board has initiated a number of reforms aimed at improving its working that would ultimately lead to plugging of leakages and avoidance of tax payment by the citizens.
A case in point is the track and trace system, which is under implementation, that is aimed at providing minimum human interface, preventing leakage of revenue, under-reporting of production and sales of specified goods (cement, sugar, fertilizer and beverages) and to ensure proper payment of duty and taxes.
Once fully functional in July 2021, the system is expected to add hundreds of billions of additional revenue, curb counterfeiting and help establish rule of law.
There are reasons to believe that the Government would not need to add more tax burden on the people if systems are devised to ensure that all those who earn pay taxes according to their income.
There are legitimate complaints that businessmen, industrialists and professionals are not only not paying their due taxes but also pocket the taxes they collect from their consumers/customers.
A number of proposals were floated in the past to curb this practice and in fact some programmes were initiated by previous and the incumbent governments but left mid-way due to pressure from vested interests.
We hope the Government would fully implement all the genuine and much-needed suggestions emanating from the FBR to increase the tax base and collection.
