KARACHI: Despite second and third waves of Covid-19, the collection of the Sindh Excise and Taxation Department rose Rs17 billion, or 26.36 per cent, to Rs81.5bn during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to Rs64.5bn collected in the same period last year.

Data released by the E&T department showed that in July-April FY21 the total collection in the heads of motor vehicle tax, infrastructure cess, professional tax, property tax, cotton fees and entertainment duty reached Rs81.5bn — upped around Rs10bn in April alone as by the end of March total tax collection stood at Rs71.8bn.

A Sindh government official told Dawn that the tax collection during April 2020 was very low because of a complete lockdown during the first wave of coronavirus pandemic.

He said this year too situation was very difficult due to the restrictions relating to the third wave of the Covid-19, but the situation was not that bad as it was last year.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Excise Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla termed the overall situation of tax collection satisfactory saying: “So far, in the current fiscal year, 93pc tax targets have been achieved.”

He hoped that the department would surpass the the collection target for 2020-21 ending on June 30.According to the break-up, the department collected Rs7.88bn in the head of motor vehicle tax during 10MFY21.

The major chunk of the total tax collection comes from infrastructure cess as Rs67.2bn was collected during the 10-month period.

The collection of property tax remains abysmal as only Rs1.55bn was collected from all Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions during 10MFY21.

An official said more than 90pc of property tax collection came from Karachi division alone as until March the collection from the country’s commercial capital stood at Rs1.3bn. An amount of Rs 494.85 million was collected in the head of professional tax during the same period.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2021