July 03, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 28, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 2: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs1,002 billion during the fiscal year 2007-08 against the downward revised target of Rs990 billion, showing an increase of Rs12 billion.

Addressing a press conference FBR Chairman Abdulla Yousuf said that as additional Rs3 to 4 billion will be added to this amount in the next few days when the statistics were finalised for the year under review.

The original target for the fiscal year 2007-08 was projected at Rs1,025 billion but was revised downward due to strikes in the month of December last.

“It is first time in the history of Pakistan that the FBR has crossed the psychological barrier of one trillion,” chairman said and added the target of Rs1,250 billion for the year 2008-09 will be achieved easily.

Elaborating the strategy for achieving the target, Mr Yousuf said that the 5 per cent growth in the GDP and 12 per cent inflation would help the FBR to realise a revenue collection in the vicinity of Rs1,164 billion for the fiscal year 2007-08.

He said through new taxation and administrative measures FBR would generate an additional Rs86 billion. Of these Rs71 billion would be generated through new taxation and Rs15 billion from administrative measures.

Answering a question the chairman said that the administrative measures would include plugging of loopholes, controlling under-invoicing, widening of tax base. He added the amnesty schemes introduced in the budget last would help in increasing the narrow tax base.

Replying to a question the FBR chief said that more than Rs135 billion had been netted from the petroleum products during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year. Of these Rs112 billion as sales tax, Rs20 billion as customs duty and Rs3 billion as federal excise duty.

To a question he said the revenue generated from imports of defence related products would be around Rs10 billion. He ruled out the possibility of fudging in the revenue figures. The revenue figures are based on hard cash, he added.

The FBR chairman linked the decline in payment of rebate/refunds to the taxation reforms in the tax machinery.

To a question he said that the government declined to entertain one of the recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance seeking no change in the rate of general sales tax. However, most of the recommendations were accepted, he added.

To tackle with the issue of bara markets, he said the government was considering revision of Afghan Transit Trade Agreement with Afghanistan. He said a tracker system will be introduced for ATT goods transported through trucks or train to avoid its selling in the local market.

Highlighting the performance of various taxes during the financial year, he said that the FBR collected Rs385.3 billion under the direct taxes against Rs333.7 billion last year, showing a growth of 15.4 per cent.

The sales tax collection increased to Rs375.5 billion during the year 2007-08 against Rs309.4 billion realised during last year, showing a growth of 21.4 per cent.

The federal excise duty collection reached Rs90.8 billion during the year under review against Rs71.8 billion last year, showing a growth of 26 per cent.

And the collection of customs duties stood at Rs150.5 billion as against Rs132.3 billion of last year, showing a growth of 13.8 per cent.

The percentage share of direct taxes in total collection declined to 38.5 per cent during the year 2007-08 from over 39 per cent last year.

However, the GST share increased to 37.5 per cent from 36.1 per cent, FED 9.1 per cent from 8.5 per cent. This shows that the share of indirect taxes increased during the year 2007-08 as compared to the direct taxes.