ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: The Central Board of Revenue collected Rs74.1 billion revenue during the first two months (July-August 2005) of the current fiscal year, as against Rs64.863 billion in the same period last year, indicating an increase of 14.3 per cent.

Provisional figures released here on Wednesday showed that the CBR expected further increase in collection when the revenue figures for August 2005 were finalized in the next few days.

On monthly basis, the CBR collected Rs40.028 billion in August 2005, as against Rs30.7 billion during the same month last year, a rise of 30.38 per cent.

The tax-wise break-up showed that the tax authorities collected Rs14.389 billion under the head of income tax during the July-August period of the current fiscal year as compared to Rs12.871 billion during the same period last year, indicating an increase of 11.8 per cent.

The collection under sales tax stood at Rs36.841 billion, as against Rs30.888 billion during the same period last year, showing an increase of 19.3 per cent.

The statistics showed that at the import stage sales tax receipts increased by 7.6 per cent during the period under review, while sales tax (domestic) increased by a healthy margin of 47.6 per cent, over the corresponding period last year.