ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: Federal tax collection during the first quarter of current financial year (July-September), as per provisional figures, was Rs88.2 billion, just Rs1.8 billion short of the target.

While reporting this figure, spokesman of the Central Board of Revenue asserted on Monday that the remaining gap too would be filled and the target for the first quarter achieved.

The figure Rs90 billion, if achieved, would mark an improvement of over 16 per cent over the collection of corresponding period of previous year (Rs77.5 billion). Even the provisional figure of Rs88.2 billion was higher by almost 13.8 per cent, he pointed out.

The spokesman also gave the provisional tax collection figure of Rs35 billion for September. However, it may move up to Rs37 billion once the final figure is received. In September last year, Rs30.9 billion taxes had been collected. The breakdown of tax collected in September 2002 is: Sales tax: Rs16.5 billion; Customs duty Rs4.9 billion; CED: Rs3.3 billion and income tax: Rs10.3 billion.