ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has said that tax collection in the first six months stood at Rs2,083 billion, which was 16.3pc higher than last year.
“This is the highest growth rate witnessed since 2015-16,” FBR said in a statement issued on Saturday. “The revenue board has made great efforts to attain this growth despite subdued economic activity.”
FBR said the original [six-month] target of Rs2,367 billion was revised to Rs2,197 in view of import compression in the first quarter, which continued in the second quarter as well. “This compression of over $5 billion has, on one hand, improved the current account situation but on the other hand has adversely affected the usual revenue resources of the government.”
According to FBR, an estimated loss of Rs56 billion in taxes was incurred on every billion dollar of import compression. “FBR has redoubled its efforts on the domestic side and has managed to shift its tax dependence on import taxes from 56pc to a little above 40pc this year.”
With expected upturn of economic activity in the last six months and a likely stabilisation of imports, it was expected that FBR would collect an unprecedented amount this year without disrupting economic activity.
Because of rupee devaluation??