Govt misses revenue target by Rs 4 billion The government missed revenue collection target for the first seven months of the current fiscal year by around Rs 4 billion. Speaking at a review meeting of revenue collection at the finance ministry on Monday, finance secretary Shanta Raj Subedi said rise in income tax collection by a mere 11 percent is the reason behind failure to meet the revenue target in the review period. Subedi also said the tendency of not submitting details of VAT and income tax increased in the period, making it difficult for the government to achieve the revenue target. The government mobilized Rs 38 billion in the review period, compared to Rs 34.57 billion collected in the same period last year. The government had set the target to collect Rs 42 billion from income tax during the period. According to a press release issued by the finance ministry, the government mobilized Rs 188 billion in the review period, which is 98.20 percent of the target of Rs 192 billion set for the period. In the same period last year, the government had mobilized Rs 154 billion.Revenue target in all sectors, except income tax, was achieved in the seven-month period, according to the release. Collection of customs duty stood at Rs 37.62 billion - a rise of 18.78 percent compared to Rs 31.67 billion collected in the same period of 2012/13. Similarly, collection from VAT increased by 18.82 percent to Rs 66.94 billion compared to last year´s collection of Rs 47.08 billion. Likewise, excise duty collection grew by 20.33 percent to Rs 24.26 billion in the review period compared to Rs 20.16 billion recorded in the same period of 2012/13. Improved growth rate of non-tax revenue was the only satisfactory thing in the review period, the release quoted Subedi as saying in the meeting. The collection of non-tax revenue grew by 40.45 percent to Rs 23.41 billion compared to Rs 16.67 billion in the same period of last year. However, share of VAT in total revenue collection decreased to 30 percent from last year´s 31 percent. Income tax also lost its share in total revenue by three percentage points to 20 percent. The contribution of customs and non-tax duty increased by one percentage point each to 20 and 12 percent, respectively. The contribution of excise duty remained unchanged at 13 percent.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 15:50:19 +0000