ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has to collect around Rs870 billion in the last month of the current fiscal year to meet the revised revenue target, sources revealed on Friday.
The FBR collected approximately Rs330 billion in the month of May 2019 as against the target of Rs413 billion, a shortfall of Rs83 billion.
Sources said that Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had directed the FBR administration to collect Rs4.2 trillion but the tax officials insisted that they could collect around Rs4.1 trillion this fiscal year.
The government recently announced an Asset Declaration Scheme until June 30, 2019. FBR will also add the collected tax from the scheme in its revenues, as it did in April 2018.
Meanwhile, the incumbent government has announced that the revenue target for the next fiscal year 2019-20 would be Rs5.55 trillion; an increase of around Rs1,400 to 1,500 billion.
According to sources, the government is likely to end the zero-rated exemption on five export-oriented sectors despite the commerce ministry opposing the move. Furthermore, they added, the government has also planned to increase one per cent sales tax from 17pc to 18pc.
In addition, sources said, Hafeez Shaikh has called for ending the income tax exemption given to government officials on salary, as this step could generate a revenue of Rs70 billion.
“The government has already announced to increase the prices of electricity and gas from July 2019 in order to generate more revenue,” sources claimed.
Catch Zardari family, Sharif Family, Ishaq Dar family, and Khakhan Abbasi family and you can easily collect more than USD 100 billion.