The anti-corruption drive could have influenced the people to pay tax, but it had no major contribution to the surplus revenue collection in the just-concluded fiscal, said Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam said Sunday.
He also said taxmen's commitment and taxpayers' voluntary compliance were the main reasons behind the boost in revenue collection in 2007-08, although hurdles were there as usual.
The Finance Adviser made the observations after attending a meeting with the revenue officials in the city.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR), for the first time, exceeded the collection target by Tk 13 billion (1300 crore) in the just-concluded fiscal collecting a total of Tk 472.01 billion.
Mr. Islam said: 'The taxmen deserve appreciation and incentives for exceeding the revenue collection target by Tk 13 billion in the just concluded fiscal.'
The government in principle has decided to give incentives to the taxmen for their outstanding contribution to the revenue collection, he disclosed.
'We are yet to fix the amount and the mode of payment of the incentive, but it will be uniform as is in the case of government employees' salary structure,' he added.
Earlier, the government planned to provide 10 per cent of the excess revenue collection to the taxmen as an incentive. But, the decision has faced a setback following complexities and indecisiveness of the finance ministry.
The finance adviser, in the meeting with the revenue board officials, assured them of providing the required logistics and the manpower to pave the way for achieving the revenue collection target of Tk 545 billion set for the current fiscal.
The finance adviser expressed his hope that the NBR would be able to achieve the revenue target as it has launched a massive campaign in district and upazilla levels to increase the tax-base.
'We have sought cooperation of the apex chamber body in the revenue collection,' he mentioned.
On undisclosed income, the finance adviser said: 'Contribution of taxes from undisclosed income is not the main reason behind the higher revenue collection.'
The revenue board has collected Tk 8.02 billion in taxes from undisclosed income, out of the Tk 13 billion surplus revenue income.
In the meeting, the finance adviser gave direction to the taxmen about the work plan to achieve the revenue collection target set for the fiscal 2008-09.
