Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Asim Ahmad has categorically dispelled the impression of a mini-budget for taking new revenue measures of Rs 600 billion.
Briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance at the Parliament House on Tuesday, the FBR chairman said that no minibudget is coming. He said that so far the government has decided not to take any new taxation measures, as the revenue collection position during July-October (2022-23) is on track.
The chairman said that top priority has been given to administrative and enforcement measures such as anti-smuggling efforts, accurate valuation of imported goods, track and trace system, point of sales (POS), integration of tier-1 retailers, and recovery of arrears.
The provisional collection during July-October (2022-23) stood at Rs 2,149 billion which is Rs 5.4 billion more than the target.
Import compression impacted revenue collection
The chairman informed the committee that import compression had a negative impact on revenue collection and now some import restrictions have been eased which will have a positive impact on tax collection.
The overall tax collection from imports witnessed a decrease of 0.6 percent during July-October (2022-23). Sales tax collection on imports witnessed a 3 percent decrease during July-October (2022-23) and the Federal Excise Duty (FED) collection witnessed a 56 percent decrease at the import stage.
The chairman said the political scenario and economic uncertainty also had an impact on the revenue collection.
