ISLAMABAD: Despite the ongoing tension in Islamabad for the last 17 days, the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) revenue collection grew by 24 per cent year on year in August, to Rs186.156 billion from Rs149.97bn.

In the budget 2014-15, the government projected a revenue collection target of Rs2.81 trillion as against Rs2.266tr collected in last fiscal year, an increase of 24pc.

A tax official told Dawn that revenue would rise further in the next couple of days.

Tax wise break-up showed that the revenue collection under the head of income tax increased by 29.36pc to Rs52.648bn in August 2014 as against Rs40.701bn during the same month last year.

The highest growth recorded in the collection of income tax was the outcome of the revenue measures taken in the last budget. These measures also include new withholding taxes. Contrary to this, the sales tax collection reached Rs99.291bn in August as against Rs81.768bn collected over the corresponding month of last year, a rise of 21.43 per cent.

The customs collection reached Rs22.696bn during the month under review as against Rs16.571bn, reflecting an increase of 36.97pc. This is an impressive growth because the customs duties collection witnessed negative growth in the whole previous year.

However, the federal excise duty rose by 5.41pc to Rs11.521bn in August this year as against Rs10.93bn, mainly because of measure like increase in excise rate for beverages and cigarettes announced in budget 2014-15.

Published in Dawn, August 31th, 2014