Islamabad : February 20: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has collected revenue of Rs.5,150 trillion since July 2023 to mid February 2024 against Rs.3,973 trillion over the same period last FY – almost 30% tax revenue growth.
The official figures of revenue collections suggest that during the course of this period, tax refunds grew by more than 28%.
Overall growth in the domestic taxes has been around 40%, while import duty and related taxes grew by 16% over July 2023 to January 2024 period. Growth in revenues gained momentum as GDP has revived and FBR collection has come under tighter scrutiny. Notwithstanding, 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 balance of payments position in the wake of foreign exchange constraints. The revenue collection from imports do however incorporate the impact of the improvements in the valuation of imports that yielded Rs 151 billion collections as well as anti- smuggling drive (that witnessed almost 69 % growth in FY vis-à-vis FY 22-23).There is scope to enhance anti-smuggling efforts by looking into increasing customs force in Baluchistan which is currently only 378 anti-smuggling staff (compared to 20,000 personnel in the province undermine the enforcement efforts).
The revenue mobilization from domestic taxes is a welcome shift. The domestic tax collection is now over 64% of the total revenues collected during the current financial year. Concurrently the import taxes shared has declined to 36% from more than 50% just 3 years ago.