The slow growth trend in the government's tax-revenue persisted for the month of January last with the total collection falling short of target by around 16 per cnet during the first seven months of the 2008-09 fiscal.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) collected tax-revenue to the tune of Tk 266.95 billion (26,695 crore) during July-January of the fiscal year (FY) 2008-09 compared to nearly Tk 237.48 billion of the corresponding period of last fiscal, provisional figures showed.
The NBR required to collect Tk 317.91 billion until January last for the sake of achieving the target of Tk 545 billion set by the government for the entire FY 2008-09, official figures suggested.
The government's tax revenue collection, howver, grew by nearly 12.40 per cent in the first seven months of the current fiscal over the matching period of last fiscal.
NBR officials have attributed the prevailing revenue shortfall to the decline in earnings from most of the sectors - customs duties, value added tax (VAT) and income tax.
Taking the shortfall in current earnings into account, the NBR has already intensified its collection drive, they said.
The collection of income tax increased by nearly 18 per cent to reach Tk 58.60 billion in the first seven months of the current fiscal. The NBR collected Tk 49.70 billion only as income tax during the corresponding period of last fiscal.
However, the collection of income tax also fell short of the Tk 76.14-billion target by around 23 per cent during the first seven months, figures showed.
The NBR, according to the provisional figures, collected value added tax (VAT) amounting to Tk 90.97 billion during the July-January period of the current fiscal, reflecting a nearly 12 per cent rise over the corresponding period of last fiscal.
On the other hand, the collection of VAT during the seven months of the current fiscal fell short of target by around 15 per cent. The month-to-month VAT collection target was Tk 107.06 billion until January 2009 of the current fiscal.
The amount of customs duties collected during the July-January period of the FY 2008-09 went up by 11 per cent from that of the matching period of the last fiscal.
The NBR generated Tk 114.87 billion customs duties in the first seven months of the FY 2008-09 while the amount was about Tk 102 billion in the corresponding period of last fiscal.
The collection of customs duties, however, fell short of target by more than 12.50 per cent during the July-January period of the FY 2008-09. The NBR required to collect Tk 131.46 billion until January for reaching the total target of Tk 225.36 billion for the entire fiscal year.
On the other hand, the government's revenue income from other sources, including travel tax and revenue stamps, also fell by about 5.5 per cent to Tk 2.55 billion during the said period of FY 2008-09 over the corresponding period of last fiscal, preliminary figures said.
