April 13, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 14, 1427

ISLAMABAD, April 12: The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) will have to collect Rs201.79 billion in the fourth quarter (April-June) for achieving the target of Rs690 billion set for the fiscal year 2005-06.

An official in the CBR on Wednesday linked the achieving of the revenue collection target with the continuous growth to be recorded in other economic indicators during the period under review.

The CBR collected Rs189.814 billion revenue during the April-June period of the year 2004-05. This means that for achieving the current year tax collection target, the CBR will have to collect Rs11.976 billion over the last year collection made during the period under review.

The official feared that the on-going strikes could disrupt the trading activities in the country which would result into less revenue collection.

Official figures released here showed that the CBR collected Rs488.21 billion during the July-March period of the current fiscal year as against the target of Rs476.4 billion, indicating an increase of 2.47 per cent over the target.

Of these, tax officials collected Rs151.377 billion during the July-March period this year under the head of direct taxes as against Rs119.473 billion, indicating a growth of 26.7 per cent.

The sales tax collections rose to Rs202.452 billion during the period under review as against Rs165.379 billion during the same period of last year, showing a growth of 22.4 per cent.