PESHAWAR, July 25: The NWFP government failed to meet the agriculture income tax target for the financial year 2002-03 with a big gap, shattering its hopes to improve recoveries under this vital head, according to officials.

The provincial government had initially set the agriculture income tax target at Rs55 million for the fiscal 2002-03. Later, finance managers of the province revised upward the target, fixing it at Rs60 million.

The upward revision had been made to improve recoveries under this head — in an attempt to fulfil a condition of a multi-million dollar loan agreement with the World Bank.

“The province ended up with a total collection of slightly over Rs40 million in the fiscal 2002-03,” said one of the senior government functionaries. The revenue generated appears to be about Rs20 million less than the revised target.

Though the province had missed the Rs50 million downward revised target of land tax and agriculture income tax for the financial year 2001-02, it had raised about Rs6 million more than the total collections recorded in the fiscal 2002-03.

According to the officials, in 2001-02, the province had ended up with total collections of Rs45.9 million — against the annual target of Rs50 million.

Talking to Dawn the officials said the provincial government was not likely to meet even the initially set target of Rs55 million for the fiscal 2002-03.

Sources at the NWFP Board of Revenue attributed the decline in recoveries to heavy rains and floods that made the provincial government last year to declare some of the fertile areas “calamity hit” suspending collection of receipts under both the components of the tax which had generated over Rs75 million during the financial year 1997-98.