The National Board of Revenue failed to achieve its revenue collection target of the fiscal year 2012-2013 by Tk 4,034.29 crore mainly due to poor business environment, political unrest in the country and prolonged recession in global economy.
This is for the first time that the NBR failed to achieve the target in the last four financial years in the tenure of the present government.
According to the NBR provisional data, Tk 1,08,224.71 crore in revenue was collected in July-June with 13.85 per cent annual growth against the target of Tk 1,12,259 crore set for the entire FY 2012-13.
Shortfall in the revenue collection, however, may be reduced by around Tk 1,000 crore which the NBR is expecting to get as value-added tax from services sector in final calculation, the data published on Wednesday showed.
‘We tried our best to achieve the target but failed because of prolonged global recession, slower than expected GDP growth, lower import growth and domestic production, appreciation of the taka against the US dollar and ongoing political violence that put negative impact on revenue collection,’ NBR chairman Ghulam Hussain told reporters at a news briefing at its headquarters in the capital.
Bangladesh started to feel negative impact of global recession from January 2012 that affected the international trade of the country hampering overall revenue collection, he said.
He said after getting more or less Tk 1,000 crore as VAT from services sector, the deficit may stand in between Tk 2,500 crore to Tk 3,000 crore.
In this context, he urged all political parties for ensuring tax-friendly environment by avoiding political violence so that it could be able to collect revenue amounted to Tk 1,36,090 crore set for the just starting fiscal year of 2013-2014.
‘Whoever comes in power, they will need money. So they [political parties] need to ensure such a situation so that revenue collection is not hampered,’ he said.
In the just concluding fiscal year, customs and VAT wings of the NBR faced a big shock in revenue collection because of slump in duties in import and export, and
sluggish consumer spending and slowdown in overall domestic economic activities, NBR officials said.
Customs wing fell short of the highest amount by Tk 3,248.45 crore followed by VAT wing that faced a deficit of Tk 1,583.92 crore in July-June period while taxes from other sources faced a shortfall of Tk 380.66 crore.
Only the revenue collection from income tax surpassed its target by Tk 1,178.74 crore in the period.
The revenue board had exceeded its revenue collection target by Tk 2,220.76 crore in FY 2011-12 when it collected Tk 94,590.76 crore against the revised target of Tk 92,370 crore.
In FY 2010-11, the NBR had collected Tk 79,092.20 crore against the target of Tk 75,600 crore while in FY 2009-10 the collection was Tk 62,042.16 crore against the target of Tk 61,000 crore.
In 12 months of the concluding fiscal year, the revenue board collected Tk 32,426.57 crore in customs duties against the target of Tk 35,600, Tk 38,816.08 crore in VAT against the target of Tk 40,400 crore and Tk 36,478.74 crore in income tax against the target of Tk 35,300 crore for the period.
In the July-June period of the 2012-2013 financial year, collection from VAT grew by 12.27 per cent against the target of 17.24 per cent annual growth, revenue from income tax by 27.31 per cent against the target of 25 per cent and from customs duty by 3.19 per cent against the growth target of 14 per cent while revenue collection from other sorts of taxes and duties also rose by 20.20 per cent, the data showed.
Explaining the strategies to be taken for the next fiscal year for achieving revenue collection target, the NBR chairman said the revenue board would expand tax net, automate taxation system to bring the services to doorsteps of the taxpayers and minimise tax evasion.
Replying to a question, he said the government set the revenue collection target based on the assumption that a good political situation would prevail.
‘We are not against any political activities including hartals, but we want tax-friendly environment. If it does not go with the assumption, we, along with everyone, are doubtful about achieving the target set for the new fiscal year,’ he said.
Political stability is very much important for revenue collection and overall development of the economy, he added.
-With New Age input
