ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected Rs2.643 trillion in taxes in the first 11 months (July-May) of this fiscal year, a growth of nearly 20 per cent as compared to a collection of Rs2.212tr.

Heavy reliance on regulatory duties and withholding taxes has helped the FBR raise the size of tax collection during the outgoing fiscal year.

In May, the size of collection grew 25pc to reach Rs296.8 billion from Rs238bn in the same month of the last year.

Dr Mahmood Iqbal, FBR’s official spokesperson, told Dawn that a revenue collection of Rs464bn has been projected for the current month, which is 21.5pc higher than Rs381.8bn collected in June 2015.

The revenue collection in May reveals that similar growth will be witnessed in the month of June as well, the spokesperson added.

If the FBR succeeds in achieving the original target set for the outgoing fiscal year, ie Rs3.104tr, the tax-to-GDP ratio would reach 10.1pc from the existing 9.4pc.

The net collection of direct taxes reached Rs986.76bn during the 11-month period under review as against Rs858.359bn a year earlier, a growth of 15pc. The bulk of the tax revenue under direct tax was realised from income tax, of which the major contributor was withholding tax. Within indirect taxes, a net collection of sales tax increased 20.5pc to Rs1.15trn in July-May FY16 from Rs954.4bn a year ago.

Around 46pc of total sales tax was contributed by the domestic sector while the remaining came from the import proceeds. A major contribution to net domestic sales tax collection came from petroleum oil lubricants (POL) products, fertilisers, natural gas, cement, other services, electrical energy, beverages, tea, sugar, iron and steel.

On the other hand, a significant contribution to the collection of sales tax on imports was made by POL products, plastic, edible oil, vehicles, machinery, chemicals and oilseeds. The customs duty collection grew 32pc to Rs348.5bn during the period under review as against Rs263bn a year earlier.

The major revenue spinners of customs duty have been automobiles, edible oil, petroleum products, machinery, plastic, iron and steel, paper and paperboard, etc. The collection of federal excise duty (FED) rose 12.5pc to Rs157.3bn in July-May 2015-16 from Rs139.9bn in the same period of the last year. The major revenue spinners of FED are cigarettes, cement, beverages, natural gas and international travel.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2016