Rs100 bn taxes on different sectors withdrawn

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly has passed the Finance Bill 2021-22 with majority whereby the government withdrew Rs100 billion taxes on different sectors in the name of doling out more tax incentives to poultry, milk, vehicles up to 1,000cc, capital gains on immovable property and many others.

The government only took one major taxation measure for imposing 75 paisa FED on a mobile call exceeding five minutes to fetch Rs20 billion to the national kitty.

However, the net addition in revenues has been slashed down to Rs150 billion instead of the earlier envisaged addition of Rs264 billion for materializing a highly ambitious tax collection target of Rs5,829 billion in next fiscal year.

“This kind of tax incentives put the revival of the IMF programme into a more difficult phase as the Fund programme had already been on a halt,” top official sources said. When asked the FBR high-ups on Tuesday how the desired tax collection target of Rs5,829 billion would be achieved to satisfy the IMF, they replied that it would be achieved through effective enforcement measures.

The FBR had initially envisaged to fetch Rs264 billion through net additional measures on eve of budget and Rs242 billion through administrative measures over and above the nominal growth of 13.2 per cent if the FBR’s revenue figure of Rs4,700 billion was taken as base for getting the desired collection of Rs5,829 billion in next fiscal year.

Now the net addition of Rs264 billion was further slashed down and brought down at Rs150 billion through further incentivising Rs100 to Rs110 billion to different sectors of economy, so the FBR’s reliance on administrative measures certainly jumped up from Rs242 billion to Rs352 billion for fetching Rs5,829 billion target on its board.

On the other hand, the IMF does not believe in enforcement measures so differences between the two sides might further widen in the next round of parleys. But official circles argued another point of view that the government would demonstrate its capacity to deliver in the first quarter (July-Sept) of the current fiscal year to convince the IMF staff that they could deliver on their promises and commitments.

On eve of announcement of the budget 2021-22, the government had imposed taxes of Rs383 billion while providing relief of Rs 119 billion so net addition was envisaged at Rs264 billion for displaying a highly ambitious tax collection target of Rs5,829 billion. On the very next day in his post-budget press briefing, the finance minister announced withdrawal of FED on mobile phone calls exceeding three minutes @ Re1 per call, SMS message @ Re0.1 per SMS, and internet data usage @ Rs5 per GB. So the government withdrew taxes having worth of Rs100 billion so net addition was curtailed through policy action at Rs164 billion instead of Rs264 billion. The FBR had envisaged fetching Rs242 billion through administrative measures. The FBR planned to install Point of Sale (POS) machines for connecting with the FBR and a prize scheme for customers would be launched for luring them to get receipts. The government also retained powers for the FBR for arresting and prosecuting potential tax evaders as the amendments were approved whereby the FBR would be able to arrest those taxpayers having a case of tax evasion of Rs100 million for a tax filer and Rs25 million in case of a non-filer.