KARACHI: The Sindh Excise and Taxation Department has achieved its half yearly revenue target by recording growth in the collection of different taxes and levies.

The department, which collects taxes and levies in six categories, including motor vehicle tax and property tax, collected Rs26.16 billion in July-Dec, up 17 per cent from a year ago.

This means that the department managed to achieve around 50pc of the current year’s enhanced revenue target of Rs52.61bn.

Excise and Taxation Director General Shoaib Siddiqui told Dawn the department expects to surpass the current year’s revenue target by increasing online facilities and the number of tax collection centres. The collection of motor vehicle tax recorded growth of 9.4pc to clock up at Rs2.51bn in July-Dec. The department has computerised the collection of motor vehicles tax up to the district level as it is collected online without any manual handling.

He said National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) recently increased the number of motor vehicle tax collection branches from 10 to 15. These new tax collection branches will be in far-flung areas, he added.

The department is developing a website that will help taxpayers calculate their property tax and also get their vehicles registered. The facility will be available within one month, Mr Siddiqui said.

The collection of infrastructure cess stood at Rs18.49bn, which is Rs3.79bn higher than the collection made in the comparable period of the preceding year. The recovery of bank guarantees also grew to Rs20.53bn, up Rs3.79bn from a year ago.

The department collected professional tax amounting to Rs220 million, which was Rs16.1m higher from the collection recorded a year ago.

However, there was a marked reduction in the collection of excise duty on liquor. That was because of an order by the Sindh High Court that resulted in the closure of liquor outlets for one month. The collection of revenue stood at Rs1.52bn in the period under review, which is Rs242m less than the collection recorded a year ago.

The revenue collection on account of property tax was recorded at Rs1.215bn, which is Rs13.14m higher on an annual basis.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2017