The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected revenue of Rs. 5,150 billion from July 2023 to January 2024 against collection of Rs. 3,973 billion over the same period of the last fiscal year, depicting a 30 percent growth.
According to the data issued by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, during the course of this period, tax refunds grew by more than 28 percent. Overall growth in domestic taxes has been around 40 percent, while import duty and related taxes grew by 16 percent. Growth in revenues gained momentum as GDP has revived and FBR collection has come under tighter scrutiny.
The ministry said the growth in import taxes fell largely because of (i) downward adjustments in import tariffs over the years, and (ii) more recently restrictions on import licenses imposed by SBP to contain a balance of payments position in the wake of foreign exchange constraints.
The revenue collection from imports does however incorporate the impact of the improvements in the valuation of imports that yielded Rs. 151 billion collections as well as anti-smuggling drive. There is scope to enhance anti-smuggling efforts by looking into increasing the customs force in Balochistan.
The revenue mobilization from domestic taxes is a welcome shift. The domestic tax collection is now over 64 percent of the total revenues collected during the current financial year. Concurrently the import taxes shared has declined to 36 percent from more than 50 percent just 3 years ago.
The tax-wise collection revealed that the major contributor of income tax remained banks, POL, textile, power, food and services sectors during July-Jan 2023-24 as compared to the same period of last fiscal year.
Major contributors to sales tax were POL, power, food, autos, Iron & Steel, and chemicals during this period. Major contributors to federal excise duty were tobacco, cement, beverages, airlines, fertilizers, and autos during July-Jan FY24. Major contributors to customs duty were POL, autos, Iron & Steel, Electronics, and food, it added.
