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| May 12, 2005 | Thursday | Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1426 |
Revenue collection rises in NWFP
PESHAWAR, May 11: The Excise and Taxation Department in the North-West Frontier Province recorded a 14 per cent improvement in its collective revenue receipts during the first ten months of the current financial year, in comparison with the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
The department raised a total of Rs 774 million in receipts during the July-April period of the 2004-05 financial year, recording an improvement of Rs 95 million in comparison with the collection made during the same period in the 2003-04 financial year.
Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday, the provincial minister for excise and taxation Fazal-i-Rabbani attributed the improvement to reforms introduced by the NWFP Government in the provincial taxation system and the concessions given to taxpayers to encourage them to pay their taxes and various types of duties. He said the department registered substantial improvement in its revenue receipts during the last four financial years as its total annual revenue receipts were up from Rs. 637 million in the 2000-01 financial year to Rs. 832 million in the 2003-04 financial year.
The Excise and Taxation Department, he added, recorded gradual improvement after its total annual revenue receipts stood at Rs 685 million in the 2001-02 financial year and Rs 724 million in the 2002-03 financial year.
The improvement in receipts, he maintained, was recorded, despite the fact that the provincial government exempted owners of self-occupied houses covering an area of five marlas from payment of property tax, licenses previously issued for the sale of liquor were cancelled in the province under a decision of the Islamic Shariat advisory committee of the provincial government, the ratio of fines on delayed registration of new motor vehicles were reduced substantially and property tax on industrial plots in the Hayatabad industrial estate and small industrial estate, Kohat road, was also abolished.
“If, on the one hand, we have tried to reduce the tax burden by giving tax exemption to owners of self-occupied houses of five marlas, on the other hand, we have attempted to create job opportunities by giving incentives to the industrial sector to help sick industrial units to become operational,” said Mr. Rabbani.
In reply to a question, he, however, said that while arrears pending against the industrialists on account of property tax had been waived as an incentive, the owners of self-occupied five-marla houses were required to clear their dues.
Accompanied by the director-general of the Directorate of Excise and Taxation, NWFP, the minister and the staff of his department did not give the figures of dues against the owners of five-marla houses and the industrialists. “We can’t give you the figures,” was the reply from the director-general when asked by a reporter about the arrears accumulated over the years against the owners of self-occupied houses of five marlas and industrialists.
According to an official estimate, the arrears against the owners of small houses runs into substantial amounts, therefore, the government has not waived the amount, while the dues against the industrialists was not much, therefore, they were given a waiver.
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